OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING
     RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release September 21, 1995               Alan Cole (202)
						208-2719

        BUDGET CUTS WEAKEN STRIP-MINE SAFEGUARDS, URAM SAYS

     Robert J. Uram, Director of the Interior Department's Office
of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today said
damaging budget cuts voted by the House-Senate appropriations
conference will weaken OSM's ability to protect people and the
environment from harmful side-effects of coal mining.

     "In the name of curbing non-existent federal-state
'duplication,' these ill-founded cuts are harming OSM's
successful team effort with the states, teamwork that has
achieved genuine progress in protecting people and land in
America's coal fields," Uram said.

     The unprecedented budget reductions severely undercut OSM's
regulatory and oversight capabilities, Uram said, jeopardizing
the health and safety of coal-field residents.  Environmental
degradation can be expected as the result of diminished OSM
oversight, he added, but OSM will continue to do its best to
carry out its responsibilities under the law.

     Uram said OSM's major computer-based systems, the Technical
Information Processing System and the Applicant Violator System,
which are relied upon by federal and state regulators alike, will
be degraded as a result of cuts in the appropriation for
regulation and technology.  As a result, OSM technical assistance
(including training) for state surface coal mine regulators will
virtually disappear he said.

     "The RIF process -- reduction in force -- has been set in
motion," Uram said.  "At OSM, budget cuts essentially mean people
cuts, separating valuable staff members who perform program and
support services that benefit the public.  Unfortunately, the
distressing process of notifying those career employees that they
will no longer be employed has already started."

     Uram noted that despite the trauma of RIF, the OSM staff has
stayed focused on the task of carrying out the Surface Mining
Control and Reclamation Act.  "OSM's employees have shown
remarkable professionalism in the face of major, career-ending
disruptions to the program," he said.  "Their dedication and
character are solid.  I hate for OSM to lose them."

     Uram expressed appreciation for all those who have worked to
impress Congress with the importance of the mission and programs
of OSM.  "I thank our supporters all over the country, many of
whom lived through the bad old days of unregulated coal mining
and know first-hand what it is to suffer devastated hillsides,
polluted waterways, and dangerous, uncontrolled blasting.  They
are the ones most at risk because of these reckless cuts."

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