OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT

For Release December 12,  1990
Jerry Childress  (202)  208-2719

SEIBEL NAMED DIRECTOR OF O.S.M. 'S  COLUMBUS  FIELD  OFFICE

Harry M. Snyder, Director of the Interior Department's Office of
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), has announced the
selection of Rick Seibel as director of the agency's Columbus,
Ohio, Field Office.   Seibel succeeds Nina Rose Hatfield, who
becomes OSM's new Assistant Deputy Director for Operations and
Technical Services,  in Washington, D.C.

Seibel has been chief of the Division of Program Operation at OSM's
Eastern Support Center in Pittsburgh since 1986.  Prior to that he
served as head of OSM's Wilkes Barre, Pa., Area Office, beginning
in 1984.

Before joining OSM, he worked for two other Interior Department
agencies, serving as Chief of Resource and Economic Analysis for
the Minerals Management Service's Los Angeles office, and working
for the Bureau of Mines in both Pittsburgh and Washington.

Seibel holds a B.A. degree from St. Francis College in Loretto,
Pa., and is an M.P.A. degree candidate at American University in
Washington, D.C.

OSM administers national standards requiring environmental
protection during coal mining and land reclamation afterward.
Additionally, 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 under authority of
the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

-DOI-