OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release October 28, 1994

Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719

OSM ISSUES NEW RULES FOR MORE EFFECTIVE USE OF APPLICANT VIOLATOR
SYSTEM

Robert Uram, Director of the Interior Department's Office of
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today announced
new regulations to make OSM's computerized Applicant/Violator
System (AVS) a more effective tool for use in the coal mine
permitting process.

Uram said OSM is putting final rules in place on how state
surface mine regulators are to use AVS, along with other
available information sources, in determining whether coal mine
permit applicants are linked to uncorrected violations of the
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). The new rules
were published in the Federal Register of October 28, 1994, and
are effective 30 days after publication.

"The computer technology AVS uses today should benefit all
parties -- the public, federal and state regulators, even the
coal industry -- during the coal mine permitting process," Uram
explained. "The new rules will be an important tool in enabling
federal and state surface mine regulators to make the most
effective use of AVS in administering SMCRA,"he said. "The
regulations provide guidelines for working with coal companies on
ownership and control matters and for ensuring access and
fairness in using AVS information in the review of permit
applications."

The AVS rules are being published contemporaneously with new
Interior Office of Hearings and Appeals rules that will provide
explicit avenues for challengers of ownership and control links
shown on AVS to obtain temporary relief through administrative
hearings.

Based on information from permit applications and other legal
documents, AVS identifies presumed ownership or control links
between SMCRA violators and surface coal mine permit applicants.
AVS was designed as a centralized means of reporting permit
information to SMCRA regulatory agencies throughout the country
to provide a shared data base for permit decision-making.

The new regulations:

--Establish procedures and standards of evidence to challenge
ownership or control links and disprove violations.

--Establish corrective actions to be taken ff a state regulatory
authority does not comply with these regulations.


AVS does not create presumptions of ownership and control or
links to violations. Instead, those presumptions and links are
created by the application of SMCRA and current regulations to
partnerships, shareholders, company officeholders, and mining
contract relationships. Section 510(c) of SMCRA requires denial
of permits to applicants who own or control coal mining
operations that are in violation of SMCRA, as well as to
applicants owned or controlled by violators.

Questions and requests for additional information about the AVS
regulations should be directed to Russell Frum, Office of Surface
Mining, U.S. Department of the Interior, Room 7422, 1849 C Street
NW, Washington, D.C. 20240, (202) 2084655.

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