OSM NEWS U. S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining Editor's Note: Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719 EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE jchildre@osmre.gov UNTIL 1:00 PM APRIL 9, 2001 FY 2002 INTERIOR BUDGET SUPPORTS FEDERAL AND STATE SURFACE MINING PROGRAMS Acting Director of the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) Glenda Owens today said that Interior's budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 includes $269 million for state and federal programs to protect the environment during coal mining, assure prompt reclamation after mining, and clean up abandoned mine lands (AML). "President Bush's budget supports our regulatory and AML reclamation programs plus those of 24 States that receive federal funds from the Interior Department for their surface mining programs," Owens said. "The surface mining program has already accomplished an impressive amount of reclamation, and we will continue to work with states to address what remains to be done." Since enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) in 1977, OSM has provided over $918 million dollars in grants to states and Indian Tribes to fund the regulation of active coal mines. OSM has also provided more than $2.9 billion in grants to States and Tribes to clean up mine sites that were abandoned before passage of SMCRA. Over 140,000 acres of abandoned coal mine sites have been reclaimed under OSM's AML program. OSM's overall FY 2002 budget request reflects a decrease of $46.5 million from the FY 2001 enacted level of $315.4 million. It includes: $102.2 million for the Regulation & Technology account (a $1.3 million increase), and $166.8 million for the AML account. The requested budget will also enable OSM to continue directly administering federal regulatory and reclamation programs in states that do not operate their own surface mining programs, and on federal lands and Indian lands. Another component to the OSM budget is a continuing obligation under the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to provide interest from the Abandoned Mine Land Fund to the United Mine Workers of America Combined Benefits Fund (UMWACBF) to defray health care costs for retired miners and their dependents whose companies have gone bankrupt or are no longer in business. OSM's mandatory transfer to the UMWACBF for FY 2002 is estimated at $92 million. In FY 2002, OSM will not continue the one-time discretionary transfer from the AML fund interest to the UMWACBF of $96.8 million. Regulatory program grants to states are budgeted at $55.6 million in the FY 2002 request, about the same as the FY 2001 level. OSM matches dollar for dollar the funds states use to operate programs for issuing coal mine permits, inspecting surface coal mines, enforcing environmental standards, and assuring reclamation of surface coal mines. State and tribal AML reclamation grants, including Clean Streams grants to assist in the clean-up of streams in the Appalachian Coal Region, are budgeted at $124.1 million in the FY 2002 request. Funding support for Clean Streams grants continues at the FY 2001 level of $10 million. AML state reclamation grant funding is reduced by a total of $47.6 million for FY 2002, but $12.6 million of that sum eliminates an FY 2001 one-time earmark for funds for the State of Pennsylvania's anthracite region. This results in a $35 million reduction to basic AML grants to states. State reclamation grants for the AML program still continue to provide sufficient funding for states to start new reclamation projects and complete ongoing ones. Left-over funding from prior years is also available to support AML projects. OSM pays 100 percent of State and Tribal costs for reclaiming lands that were abandoned unreclaimed or inadequately reclaimed before the enactment of SMCRA in 1977. The AML program is funded by production fees of 35 cents per ton of surface mined coal, 15 cents per ton of coal mined underground, and 10 cents per ton of lignite. -OSM-