OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING
     RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release   March 14, 1997                 Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719
                                        jchildre@osmre.gov

      GILMORE NAMED OSM INDIANAPOLIS FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR

     Brent T. Wahlquist, Mid-Continent Regional Director of the Interior Department's
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today announced the
appointment of Andrew R. Gilmore as the Indianapolis, Indiana, Field Office Director.

     Gilmore, who is presently Acting Director of OSM's Birmingham, Alabama, field
office, will take charge of OSM's activities in the coal regions of Indiana and Illinois,
effective May 25, 1997.
  
     "OSM benefits greatly from Andy Gilmore's professional expertise and
managerial experience," Wahlquist said.  "His appointment will ensure the Indianapolis
Field Office the continuing strong, dependable leadership that our employees and
customers in Indiana and Illinois have come to rely upon."

     Gilmore began his federal civil service career in 1978 at OSM's District Office in
Evansville, Indiana, and worked in other OSM offices in Terre Haute and Indianapolis
before transferring to Birmingham in October 1985.  Before joining OSM, he was
employed by the State of Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals from February 1975
to October 1978.

     He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Forestry from the University of Illinois
at Champaign-Urbana.

     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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