OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING
     RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release December 4, 1996                         Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719
                                                                             jchildre@osmre.gov

  OSM SURVEYING INFORMATION NEEDS, INTERESTS IN PRIME FARMLAND
                          RECLAMATION

     The Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement
(OSM) today announced it is surveying customers to assess their interest in
participating in either a Prime Farmland Interactive Forum, or a series of technical
interactive workshops on issues related to prime farmland reclamation.

     The survey is being conducted by a steering committee made up of
representatives from OSM, university researchers, state regulators, industry, citizens
groups, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).  The
committee plans to determine who would be interested in attending the forum, obtain
ideas for its format, and select topics for discussion.

     August of 1997 will mark 20 years of reclaiming prime farmland under the
Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA).  With its promise of post-mining agricultural productivity, prime farmland restoration has been a topic of intense
interest both before and after passage of SMCRA.

     The importance of prime farmland soils to U.S. agriculture has made it one of the
most heavily researched topics associated with surface coal mining, producing volumes
of new information on interrelationships among crop production, soil compaction,
fertility, texture, and management.

     According to OSM officials, the potential impacts of coal mining on prime
farmland today are very much different from when SMCRA was first introduced.

     Many coal mine operators are successfully attaining their revegetation goals and
obtaining reclamation bond release.  In some parts of the country, mine operators may
be creating prime farmland soils where none existed before.  Meanwhile, the total
acreage of prime farmland being disturbed by surface coal mining is rapidly diminishing

                              -MORE-
because of the reduction of surface coal mining in the Midwest.  The increasing use of
underground coal mining in the Midwest, with its potential impacts on prime farmland
through subsidence, was largely unanticipated by SMCRA.

     Controversy, however, remains.  Soils and reclamation experts are continuing to
research the complexities associated with projecting actual crop yields based on
measurement of existing soil qualities.  Considerable difference of opinion still exists on
 the long-term success of surface mining reclamation on the potential agricultural
productivity of prime farmland soils.
 
     Deadline for completing the survey is January 31, 1997.  People interested in
participating should contact the state surface coal mining regulatory agencies.  In
Illinois, the contact is Dean Spindler, (217) 782-4970.  The Indiana contacts are David
Kiehl and Steve Wade, (812) 665-2207.  To contact Kimery Vories (OSM), call
(618) 463-6463 extension 103, FAX (618) 463 6470, or E-Mail kvories@osmre.gov.

                              -DOI-



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