For Release   March 19, 1996                    Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719
                                                jchildre@osmre.gov


FISCAL 1997 SURFACE MINING BUDGET INCLUDES $4.3 MILLION FOR
APPALACHIAN CLEAN STREAMS INITIATIVE

      Robert J. Uram, Director of the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today announced that the OSM budget request
of $274,157,000 for Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 includes $4.3 million for the Appalachian
Clean Streams Initiative (ACSI) to clean up streams harmed by acid mine drainage.

      "ACSI is already off to a great start," Uram said, "and with $4.3 million for
clean streams we will be able to provide seed money for a number of creative joint
projects.  We hope this will attract additional funds through other government
programs as well as through continued private-sector participation in clean stream
projects."

       "Thanks to all the public and private cooperation the program has received
over the past year, Clean Streams has the potential to be one of OSM's most
successful activities in 1997 and beyond," Uram added.

      Twelve ACSI pilot projects have been developed in eight states in coordination
with the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and grassroots
coalitions, including:

      --    West Virginia -- Paint Creek, Sovern Run and Abram Creek

      --    Pennsylvania -- Quemahoning Creek and Little Toby Creek. 

      --    Ohio -- Captina Creek and Monday Creek.

      --    Kentucky -- Brier Creek; Alabama -- Cane Creek; Virginia -- Black
            Creek; Tennessee -- Laurel Creek;  and, Indiana -- South Fork.

      Uram said President Clinton's overall FY 1997 budget request of $274,157,000
for OSM is $4.3 million higher than the Congressional Conference level for FY 1996. 
The funds will support OSM's regulatory and abandoned mine land (AML) reclamation
programs, plus those of the 24 coal states and 3 Indian Tribes receiving Interior
Department funds for their surface mining programs.

      "Besides supporting ACSI, the OSM budget is structured to support our basic
mission of ensuring that coal mines are operated in a manner that protects citizens
and the environment during mining and assures that the land is restored to beneficial
use following mining and mitigating the effects of past mining by aggressively
pursuing the reclamation of abandoned coal mines," Uram said.

      OSM's 1997 budget request includes $94,772,000 for regulation and
technology programs and $179,385,000 for AML.

      Regulatory program grants to states are budgeted at $50.7 million in the FY
1997 request, about the same as the fiscal 1996 Conference Level.  The funds are
for OSM grants that match state expenses dollar for dollar to operate programs for
issuing coal mine permits, inspecting surface coal mines, enforcing environmental
standards and assuring reclamation of surface coal mines.

      "Sharing expenses is an extremely important part of the state-federal shared
commitment to effective administration of the surface mining program," Uram said.

      Funds for State and Indian AML reclamation grants are budgeted at $144.3
million, $4.3 million more than the FY 1996 Conference Level.  The increase will
support ACSI.

      Through AML grants, OSM pays 100 percent of state and tribal costs for
reclaiming abandoned coal mine lands that were left unreclaimed or inadequately
reclaimed before enactment of the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
(SMCRA).

      "The AML program has proven exceptionally beneficial to the coalfield
environment," Uram said.  "Abandoned mine reclamation is one of the truly
successful environmental remediation programs in all of government.  It really works. 
And we're giving it the budgetary attention it deserves."

      The AML program, including reclamation grants to states and tribes, is funded
by production fees of 35› per ton of surface mined coal, 15› per ton of coal mined
underground, and 10› per ton of lignite, which OSM collects from coal producers. 

      Proceeds go to a specially earmarked U.S. Treasury interest-bearing fund from
which Congress makes appropriations for AML work.  The fund contains over $1
billion that was previously collected but not yet appropriated for use.

      OSM administers national standards requiring environmental protection during
coal mining and land reclamation afterward, and OSM reclaims abandoned mine
lands.  Fulfilling a national responsibility while upholding local values, the agency
provides support and program evaluation for approved state regulatory and
reclamation programs, and directly carries out such activities on federal and Indian
lands.





                                     -DOI-