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During the 25 years since the enactment of the Surface Mining Law, the Office of Surface Mining has prepared several documents to address protection of the hydrologic balance requirement the Law. On May 17, 2002, a technical reference document entitled, Permitting Hydrology, A Technical Reference Document for Determination of Probable Hydrologic Consequences (PHC) and Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessments (CHIA) - Baseline Data was finalized. This document describes considerations in the planning of baseline data collection for the protection of the hydrologic balance through the coal mining permit process.

This new document supersedes, with respect to baseline information, a document first made available in 1998 entitled, Managing Hydrologic Information, A Resource for Development of Probable Hydrologic Consequences (PHC) and Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessments (CHIA). The 1998 document remains a useful technical reference for preparing and evaluating PHCs and CHIAs even though it has been superseded with respect to hydrologic baseline data. We provide this earlier document as a source of information on hydrologic reclamation plans, PHCs, CHIAs, and the other components of the Surface Mining Law permit application process aimed at assuring the protection of the hydrologic balance.