OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT
For Release June 18, 1994
Suzanne Melancon (202) 208-2719

INTERIOR SECRETARY BABBITT ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF NATIONAL SURFACE
MINING RECLAMATION AWARDS

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today announced that coal
mine operators in six states are winners of national Excellence in
Surface Mining Reclamation awards.

The awards are sponsored by the Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), the Interior Department bureau
responsible for regulating the environmental impacts of coal
production. Nominations from coal mine operators were first judged
by state mining and reclamation agencies. State-level winners were
then judged at the national level by a panel of experts from OSM,
the U.S. Bureau of Mines, and the U.S. Geological Survey. This is
the eighth year that the awards have been presented by OSM.

This year's award-winning operations are in Illinois, Kentucky,
Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The Hobet Mining Company's Madison, West Virginia, operation won
the prestigious 1993 OSM Director's Award for outstanding
achievement in creating wildlife habitat as a post-mining land use.
In reclaiming more than 7,300 acres, including steep slopes and
infertile native soils, Hobet established a much-improved habitat
that supports varied wildlife populations with their essential
natural food chain.

Other 1993 winners are:

--Peabody Coal Company, River King #3 Mine, Baldwin, Illinois, for
reclaiming a 2,500 acre site to create varied aquatic environments,
including deepwater lakes, shallow pools, potholes, marshes,
nesting islands, and mud fiats for waterfowl.

--Peabody Coal Company, Moorman Mine, Moorman, Kentucky, for
multiple land use restoration that resulted in outstanding crop
yields. Working with the University of Kentucky's College of
Agriculture, Peabody's Moorman operation reclaimed more than 100
acres of prime farmland.

--W.H. Bowlin Coal Company, Saxton, Kentucky, for outstanding
reclamation achieved by a small mine operator. Before mining, this
operation along I-75 was covered with old spoil pits and ridges
left from a mid-1940s operation. Bowlin's reclamation revegetated
the site, which is ready for hay production.

--Red River Coal Company and S.R. Mullins Excavating, Inc., Flat
Gap Mine, Flat Gap, Virginia, for achieving outstanding reclamation
while remining a site characterized by barren outslopes, dangerous
highwalls, acid mine drainage, and stream sedimentation.
Reclamation has improved water quality, promoted a higher use of
the land, and improved the quality of life for local residents.

--Centralia Mining Company, Centralia, Washington, for reclamation
that enhanced wildlife habitat within the company's forest
plantation to encourage populations of small mammals, big game,
upland birds, and waterfowl.

--Buffalo Coal Company, Difficult Mine, Mount Storm, West Virginia,
for exemplary contemporaneous reclamation. Using a modified version
of the block-cut method of surface mining, the company removed
potentially toxic materials and mixed them with alkaline materials
as they were placed in nearby fill. Backfilling was simultaneous
with excavation. Those techniques minimized sedimentation, erosion,
and oxidation of the overburden.

--Kerr-McGee Coal Corporation, Jacobs Ranch Mine, near Gillette,
Wyoming, for exemplary reclamation achieved under semi-arid
conditions. Kerr-McGee's reclamation of the site returned the land
to use for grazing and wildlife habitat. Trees planted on part of
the reclaimed land were donated by company employees, who dug and
transplanted the seedlings on weekends.

Interior Secretary Babbitt commended all those involved with the
winning coal mine operations for setting high standards for
restoring the quality of the environment. "The 1993 reclamation
award winners have demonstrated that they can extract a valuable
mineral resource without causing permanent environmental damage,
restoring the landscape as they go. I congratulate them for their
achievements in preserving the natural environment for future
generations of Americans," he said, "and I commend them as examples
for others in the extractive industries to learn from and to
follow."

OSM Director Robert J. Uram presented the awards at the National
Coal Association's annual meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., on
Saturday, June 18. Uram, who was named Director of the agency last
March, praised the award-winning projects. "I have recently had an
opportunity to visit several of today's award-winning sites, and
they were truly impressive. The outstanding on-the-ground
reclamation achieved by each of these winners is what the surface
mining law is all about," he said.

OSM administers national standards requiring environmental
protection during coal mining and land reclamation afterward, and
OSM reclaims abandoned mine lands. The agency provides support and
oversight for approved state regulatory and reclamation programs
and directly carries out such activities on federal and Indian
lands. OSM was established in the Interior Department under
authority of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of
1977.

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