OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release August 9, 1996
Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719
jchildre@osmre.gov

OSM CUTS MANAGEMENT DIRECTIVES, REGS BY 50% 

Robert J. Uram, Director of the Interior Department's Office of
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today announced
a 50 percent reduction in OSM internal management regulations and
directives, --- from 190, down to 93.  

"By eliminating unnecessary internal regulations and directives,
OSM fulfills the requirements of President Clinton's Executive
Order 12861, issued in September 1993, to streamline government
internal management procedures," Uram said. "This not only
simplifies the procedures OSM uses to conduct its daily business,
it also enables us to empower our employees to better serve our
customers."

According to Uram, OSM conducted a three-year review of its
internal operating documents, and established review criteria
including assessment of the need for the policy, whether detailed
procedures added value, whether the issues addressed were still
current, and whether the directive's provisions have become part
of the agency's daily practices.

"OSM regional and field units, and headquarters units alike had
input into the process," Uram said.  "In the end we were able to
reduce the number of pages of OSM internal directives from 5,952,
to 2,969."

In addition, Uram said that OSM's Knoxville Field Office, which
implements a full federal coal mining regulatory program in
Tennessee, cut its internal operational documents from 267 to
144, eliminating nearly 600 of 1,400 pages.

To fulfill its regulatory mission under the Surface Mining
Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), OSM issues programmatic
directives containing additional policies and procedures needed
to implement federal surface mining rules.  

Uram said that as a routine practice, OSM consults with its
stakeholders, including the States, Indian tribes, the coal
industry, and citizens groups, when it develops those directives. 
In completing its internal regulations reduction, OSM retained
many programmatic directives because they already reflect
consensuses reached on policies and procedures between the agency
and its stakeholders.  In some cases program directives were
revised to eliminate detailed procedures.  Others were eliminated
because they were outdated.

OSM rescinded many administrative directives such as personnel,
procurement, and financial management where guidance already
exists in other places, like the Interior Departmental Manual. 
In many cases OSM has already instituted most of the policies or
procedures as routine practices, thereby eliminating the need to
detail them in directives according to Uram.

A listing of current OSM Directives and those rescinded is
available from OSM by Fax-on-Demand at the phone number listed
below.

-DOI-

OSM news releases may be downloaded from OSM's Homepage at: 
http://www.osmre.gov.  Frequently requested information about OSM
is available 24 hours a day by Fax-on-Demand at:  (202) 219-1703.