OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING
     RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release September 20, 1995         Jerry Childress (202)
						208-2719

               'SILVER LINING' IN APPROPRIATION CLOUD
       SUPPORTS OSM GRANTS FOR INDIAN SURFACE MINING PROGRAMS

     Robert J. Uram, Director of the Interior Department's Office
of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today said
the agency plans to issue grants to four western Indian tribes to
assist in establishing a surface coal mining regulation unit for
each tribe during Fiscal Year 1996.

     Funding for the grants to the Crow, Northern Cheyenne,
Navajo, and Hopi tribes comes from an allocation included in the
FY-96 appropriation voted by the Senate and House of
Representatives for Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

     "Dollars for added tribal assistance are a silver lining
Congress left in the damaging cuts inflicted on Indian and
surface mining appropriations for fiscal 1996," Uram said.  "As
positive as it is to be able to extend this first step toward
primacy to the four coal resource tribes, any realistic look at
the severe cuts Congress has voted for Indian tribal programs
overall shows a negative picture."  Actual award of the grants is
contingent on final appropriations, Uram noted.

     Authority for tribal grants comes from provisions in the
Energy Policy Act of 1992 requiring the Secretary of the Interior
to assist the tribes in developing regulations and programs for
regulating surface coal mining and reclamation operations on
Indian lands, Uram said.  "The next logical step, once the tribes
complete regulatory program development, is for Indian tribes to
achieve full primacy, putting them on an equal footing with the
24 coal states that already have primacy over surface coal mining
and reclamation within their borders."

     "Tribal lands affected are located in Arizona, New Mexico,
and Montana," Uram said.  "A team from OSM offices in Denver,
Casper, and Albuquerque has already made working visits to the
four tribes to determine their needs and objectives."

     "Individual negotiation with the tribes has resulted in a
good deal of give and take, and has led us to a plan for
equitable funding distribution," Uram said.

     "Once tribal surface mining offices are operational, they
can begin to develop tribal regulations and program policies with
respect to surface coal mining," Uram said. "They can also assist
OSM in inspection and enforcement activities on Indian lands,
including, but not limited to permitting, mine plan review, and
bond release."

     Uram called the grants another example of OSM's continuing
commitment to insure proper and equitable enforcement of the
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) on Indian
lands, in order to protect both human health and the environment. 
"OSM doesn't consider this just an obligation; rather, it is a
positive commitment which we take very seriously."

     Uram noted that the Navajo, Hopi, and Crow tribes already
operate OSM-funded programs for reclaiming abandoned mine sites
on tribal lands, just as the primacy states do.  Money for
reclaiming abandoned mine lands comes from the national Abandoned
Mine Reclamation Fund, which is supported by mandatory fees OSM
collects from coal producers at the rate of 35› per ton of
surface mined coal and 15› per ton of coal from underground
mines.

     Uram outlined several other recent examples of OSM actions
supporting Indian tribes, including an April 1995 accord with the
Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe settling litigation over
regulation of surface coal mining on Indian lands.

     "That agreement upholds Interior's historic trust
responsibility for Indian lands and resources, respects tribal
sovereignty, and is consistent with the surface mining act," Uram
said.  "It represents a key step toward eventual tribal primacy
over the regulation of surface coal mine reclamation on Indian
lands."

     Uram noted that the settlement agreement with the Navajo and
Hopi tribes provides for Interior to consider tribal requests to
handle specific functions related to the surface mining
regulatory program under contract, pursuant to the Indian
Self-Determination Act.  Such contracts would provide further
opportunities to develop tribal regulatory capabilities, laying
the groundwork for eventual tribal primacy.

     Additionally, OSM has addressed issues as diverse as
monitoring blasting at the Navajo and Hopi tribes' Black Mesa and
Kayenta Mines, working with EPA on a comprehensive environmental
review of Black Mesa and Kayenta, and supporting negotiations
aimed at settling other Black Mesa issues such as the N-Aquifer
controversy, and Indian water rights claims in the Little
Colorado River.  OSM's Western Regional Coordinating Center,
Denver CO, is involved in efforts to assist the tribes in
developing legislation amending SMCRA to authorize the tribes to
obtain primacy on Indian lands.

                                 -DOI-