ALTON FIELD DIVISION

The Alton Field Division (AFD)  is located in Alton, Illinois with an area office in Indianapolis, Indiana (IAO).  The AFD serves as the point-of-contact for their respective State regulatory and AML programs, the coal industry, public interest groups, and citizens in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. State coal regulatory and Abandoned Mine Land Programs are monitored to ensure compliance with SMCRA and that all coal operations and reclamation activities of abandoned mine lands are conducted in an appropriate environmental manner.

The AFD Program staff is responsible for gathering data about coal mining and reclamation operations in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri, assisting them in improving inspection and enforcement activities and recommending actions needed to address program deficiencies. The accomplishment of these tasks will assist the States in the implementation of regulatory programs and ensure proper reclamation of the land. The Program Staff:

• Administers the MCR Watershed Cooperative Agreement program in Iowa, Indiana, Missouri and Illinois, with active programs in Iowa and Illinois.
• Reviews and analyzes proposed state program amendments and monitors and evaluates State regulatory programs, cooperative agreements and abandoned mine land (AML) reclamation programs.
• Assists in resolving identified program issues within each of the states.
• Works with each state to develop an annual performance agreement which defines the oversight and assistance activities for the current evaluation year.
• Solicits stakeholder comments concerning oversight, conducts performance reviews in accordance with the approved performance agreement, and inspects mines in accordance with existing OSM policy, citizen concerns or concerns from routine program and document review.
• Provides technical assistance or access to technical assistance on issues relating to mine permitting, compliance monitoring, mitigation, AML issues or reclamation decisions.
• Reviews grant documents and assure programmatic compliance with all grant conditions.
• Assists the States in aggressively pursuing reclamation of the most serious and high priority non-emergency AML sites.
• Participates in technical forums, meetings, and conferences to maintain technical expertise and stay abreast of developments in mining and reclamation technology.
• Committee member of various national initiatives.

The contact for the Alton Field Division is: