OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release September 22, 1994

Alan Cole (202) 208-2719

SURFACE MINING AGENCY SETS CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS

Robert J. Uram, Director of the Interior Department's Office of
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today announced
standards of customer service designed to improve the way people's
needs are met when dealing with the federal government on coal mine
reclamation matters.

"It's important to focus on improving the way we deal with our
customers, on becoming a customer-oriented, people-oriented
agency," Uram said. "Our customers are coalfield residents, people
in environmental and citizen groups, as well as people who work in
the coal industry -- in short, anybody who operates under the
surface mining law and everybody who is affected by the surface
mining law. But our primary customers are citizens of the
coalfields and the general public."

Uram said customer service standards help advance the cause of
re-engineering OSM, fulfilling objectives of the federal
government's National Performance Review headed by Vice President
AI Gore. "Americans deserve to be treated at least as well by their
public agencies as they are by their favorite commercial
establishments," Uram said. "That's a big part of what reinventing
government is all about."

OSM's customer service standards are being sent to all employees of
the agency and are being posted in prominent places on the walls at
OSM coalfield and headquarters locations, Uram said. "In addition
to offering old-fashioned courtesy and consideration, we're making
some very up-to-date promises to our customers," Uram added. "This
is a permanent change for the better, a way of translating OSM's
mission and vision statement into our everyday way of doing
business."

Besides establishing a written set of customer services .that are
offered to the public, Uram said he is setting specific standards
for 1995 featuring measurable benchmarks for attainment. Experience
operating under those standards, plus results of periodic customer
surveys, will be used to refine and improve the standards for
future years, he explained.

"The bottom line is, we're committed to putting forward our best
efforts in striving to provide customers with the best possible
service by addressing their needs in a courteous, accurate, and
timely manner to ensure complete customer satisfaction," Uram said.

The OSM customer service standards and-the agency's mission and
vision statement are attached.
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