Surface Mining Control And Reclamation Act Research Articles

Abandoned mine land program: Examining public participation in decision‐making

AbstractFor centuries, coal extraction and production provided low‐cost energy that powered the American economy. Currently, an estimated 5.5 million people in the Appalachian region live within one mile of an Abandoned Mine Land (AML) site. The site remediation has been funded and promoted by the AML program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977, and public engagement has been required. However, little is known about the AML program and the public engagement requirement for site remediation decision‐making. Relying on State and Tribal Reclamation Plans and community surveys, we investigate how AML states and tribes engage the public and which barriers limit successful participation in the AML program. We found that AML states and tribes rely heavily on traditional methods of public engagement, such as public meetings, hearings, and comment periods, rather than nontraditional methods that could include more diverse stakeholders. We also found (1) lack of information on public participation opportunities and (2) unclear project selection and awards processes as key barriers limiting public engagement. Three recommendations specific to AML program are suggested.

Using the Forestry Reclamation Approach for Reclaimed Surface Mineland in the Western Gulf: Effects on Pinus taeda Seedling Growth and Survival

While land reclamation efforts of surface mines have considerably increased soil stability since the implementation of SMCRA (Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act), research suggests that resulting soil compaction hinders the productivity of forests post-mining. The Forestry Reclamation Approach (FRA) was developed to improve forest health in the Appalachian region through a five-step process that minimizes soil compaction and establishes a productive forest. The FRA has not yet been tested in the western Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP). The higher clay content of some GCP soils and the dearth of coarse fragments (e.g., cobbles, stones and boulders) may affect reclamation practices and the ability of these methods to create productive forests. Compaction caused by conventional reclamation methods in the GCP has not been studied in great detail. Thus, this study attempts to provide a comparison of two reclamation methods, FRA low-compaction method used in the Appalachian region with that of conventional scraper-pan (scraper) methods in the GCP. This study used the FRA with common silvicultural practices of the western Gulf. The two hectare study site was installed with a randomized complete block design with three replicates comparing conventional scraper reclamation used in the region with that of an unmined control and the FRA-style low compaction treatment. Following soil reclamation, containerized loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings of a western Gulf provenance were hand-planted. Soil chemical and physical parameters were assessed on each treatment to determine the effect the FRA and scraper method had on resulting tree seedling growth and survival. After three growing seasons, seedlings in the FRA plots had significantly greater tree volumes than both the scraper (p = 0.0139) and the control (p = 0.0247) treatments. The FRA plots also had a 97% survival rate, while scraper plots had a survival of 86%. The FRA plots had significantly lower soil bulk densities than scraper (p = 0.0353) and control (p < 0.0001) plots which likely influenced growth and survival trends. Soil nutrients were increasingly available on the FRA and scraper plots, likely due to mixing of the soil profile when compared to the unmined control. Leaf-level water potential and gas exchange were not correlated to growth and survival and did not differ among treatments. These results suggest reclamation practices modeled after FRA methods may benefit tree growth and survival in the Western Gulf.

Best regulatory practices for deep seabed mining: Lessons learned from the U.S. Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act

Mining operations around the globe are responsible for significant environmental problems. These problems often stem from poor planning, inadequate regulatory standards, and a failure of regulatory oversight, particularly with respect to inspection and enforcement regimes. Mining regulators are often hamstrung, however, by inadequate information about potential impacts before operations commence. This problem is particularly daunting when considering mining on ocean floors where information about the environment is limited, and the impacts of mining are poorly understood.As the International Seabed Authority (ISA) develops a comprehensive regulatory program for deep seabed mining, they should draw on the experience gained in regulating terrestrial mining, subject, of course, to the caveat that deep seabed mining poses unique challenges that will require different and sometimes innovative regulatory solutions. In reviewing regulatory programs for terrestrial mining operations, one would be hard-pressed to find a program that is more thorough and creative than that established by the U.S. Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). For reasons that are related primarily to the contentious politics surrounding coal mining regulation in the United States, SMCRA has never lived up to its promise. Nonetheless, the law remains largely intact and, despite its implementation challenges, affords a useful framework for thinking about an appropriate strategy for regulating deep seabed mining.This case study outlines the contours of the regulatory program established under SMCRA insofar as it may be relevant to regulating deep seabed mining. It acknowledges some of SMCRA’s flaws and omissions, and where appropriate, it suggests regulatory practices that go beyond SMCRA. Nonetheless, and despite SMCRA’s limitations, the program established under this law reflects modern thinking about the procedures that should be followed in managing mining activities in challenging environments, and thus offers a useful lens for designing a regulatory program for deep seabed mining.

Exploring the Policy Implications of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act

This paper explores how policy structure, institutions, and political climate impact the ability of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to ensure the reclamation of surface coal mines. We conduct a policy review that traces the impacts of the three parts of SMCRA; Reclamation Standards, Reclamation Bonding Requirements, and the Abandoned Mine Land fund. We examine the implications the act and its approach have for the mining industry and their ability to reclaim mining areas. We find that each of the three parts of SMCRA’s approach face substantial problems in their implementation. Though largely a positive force for internalizing the environmental costs of surface mining, those issues commonly elucidated in the public choice literature reduce the efficacy of the policy approach and call into question the act’s ability to ensure reclamation occurs. Both in the structure of the bonding requirements and in the regulatory structure created by the act, misaligned incentives sometimes hamper effective reclamation. Further, the funds created under SMCRA to reclaim and restore mined lands have often been directed towards projects that are politically expedient for politicians instead of those that would best serve the fund’s original reclamation purpose. After revealing these problems and putting them in the context of the public choice literature, we suggest updates to the current policy that would align reclamation incentives and better ensure that the reclamation of surface mines occurs. We emphasize the cooperative elements of SMCRA and suggest how other countries, especially those without major existing frameworks for handling reclamation, can emulate the successes of SMCRA while avoiding its implementations snags.

Long‐Term Change of Fish Communities in a Polluted Watershed: Does Cleaner Water “Act” on Fishes?

AbstractPollution is a threat to lotic fishes that enter streams via point source (PS) and nonpoint source (NPS) pathways. The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977 reduced PS pollution in the United States, but little information is available concerning the response of fish communities to this legislation. The objectives of this research were to quantify the responses of fishes to the CWA and SMCRA in the Cow Creek watershed of southeastern Kansas, a wadeable stream network that experienced large reductions in PS pollution. Responses were quantified by measuring changes in site occupancy, relative abundance, and species richness across 25 sites sampled in 1963 and again in 2017. Responses were compared among fishes that were intolerant, moderately intolerant, moderately tolerant, and tolerant of pollution using an analysis of deviance coupled with general linear hypothesis testing. We predicted that intolerant fishes would exhibit the most dramatic increases in distribution and abundance and that these changes would be most evident in streams that were directly receiving PS pollution in 1963. However, our predictions were not met, as species tolerant of pollution exhibited greater occupancy, relative abundance, and richness than did intolerant fishes, regardless of time period. Contemporary pH and substrate composition were also quantified and revealed that most streams had recovered from historical acid mine drainage but were dominated by fine substrates. We hypothesized that the limited responses exhibited by intolerant fishes were at least partially attributable to NPS pollution (i.e., sedimentation) resulting from agriculture, which was the dominant land use both historically and currently. We conclude that reductions in both NPS pollution coupled with historical reductions in PS pollution may be necessary to increase the prevalence of intolerant fishes. These management actions may have conservation implications as many intolerant fishes are also imperiled.

Surface coal mine permit application for successful reclamation, semi-arid shortgrass prairie (Wyoming, USA)

Approximately 40% of USA coal originates in an ecologically sensitive area of semi-arid shortgrass prairie in Wyoming. Before a surface coal mine can begin operation in the USA, it must secure a mining permit and comply with regulations and performance standards under the USA Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), other federal environmental acts, and state programs. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ)/Land Quality Division (LQD) administers Wyoming’s coal regulatory program. The permit application and bonding process for the largest surface coal mine permit in the USA, North Antelope Rochelle Mine (NARM) located in short grassland prairie in the northeast Wyoming, is discussed. The permit application process begins with the collection of baseline environmental data that characterizes premining conditions of the permit area. The permit application includes adjudication information, baseline information, mine and operation plans, and reclamation plans. Fulfillment of permit commitments and requirements of rules and regulations are inspected monthly by the LQD’s representative in the field. Before a mine permit is issued, the mine operator must submit a reclamation bond to secure the performance of reclamation obligations that is later revised annually. In Wyoming, four reclamation bond release phases indicate the completion of various stages of the reclamatikon process. NARM’s specific bond release verification cirteria, performance standards, and field verificatoins of bond release phases are discussed. The Bond Release Geodatabase (a GIS/GPS approach) was developed for this mine to monitor progress in meeting criteria and performance standards for incremental bond release. The Bond Release Geodatabase significantly reduces the time needed to track bond release progress, reach agreement between operator and regulator, and improve the state inspector’s ability to assess reclamation adequacy and progress.

Post-mining policies and practices in the Eastern USA coal region

Surface coal mines prior to 1950 in the USA were generally left without any reclamation. As government regulations advanced since then, mine operators were required to backfill the area and plant grasses or trees. After the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) was passed in 1977 in the USA, mine operators were required to conduct pre-mining analyses of the site and to designate a land use that could be achieved after mining. Successful reclamation, as needed to satisfy today’s societal demands, requires engineering, design, and purposeful reconstruction of the full mining disturbance, not just its surface, and control of waters leaving the mine site. Effective reclamation on modern American coal mines is fully integrated with the mining operation. A suitable and effective post-mining land use that is sustainable for future generations is crucial to the long-term success and profitability of the mining business and to the future economic benefits of the landowner. Accepted post-mining land uses in the USA are: (1) prime farmland, (2) hay land and pasture, (3) biofuel crops, (4) forestry, (5) wildlife habitat, and (6) building site development. Policies and regulations for each post-mining land use were developed and practices to achieve successful and sustainable land uses were established. Post-mining conditions should provide ecosystem services and produce lands capable of supporting societal needs in the future.

Forest Restoration Potentials of Coal‐Mined Lands in the Eastern United States

The Appalachian region in the eastern United Sates is home to the Earth's most extensive temperate deciduous forests, but coal mining has caused forest loss and fragmentation. More than 6000 km in Appalachia have been mined for coal since 1980 under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). We assessed Appalachian areas mined under SMCRA for forest restoration potentials. Our objectives were to characterize soils and vegetation, to compare soil properties with those of pre-SMCRA mined lands that were reforested successfully, and to determine the effects of site age on measured properties. Soils were sampled and dominant vegetation characterized at up to 10 points on each of 25 post-SMCRA mines. Herbaceous species were dominant on 56%, native trees on 24%, and invasive exotics on 16% of assessed areas. Mean values for soil pH (5.8), electrical conductivity (0.07 dS m(-1)), base saturation (89%), and coarse fragment content (50% by mass) were not significantly different from measured levels on the pre-SMCRA forested sites, but silt+clay soil fraction (61%) was higher, bicarbonate-extractable P (4 mg kg(-1)) was lower, and bulk density (1.20 g cm(-1)) was more variable and often unfavorable. Pedogenic N and bicarbonate-extractable P in surface soils increased with site age and with the presence of weathered rocks among coarse fragments. Our results indicate a potential for many of these soils to support productive forest vegetation if replanted and if cultural practices, including temporary control of existing vegetation, soil density mitigation, and fertilization, are applied to mitigate limitations and aid forest tree reestablishment and growth.

English

The demand for energy throughout the world grows each day, and coal will be needed to meet a large portion of that demand. Coal mining techniques in the Appalachian and Midwestern coalfields have evolved to mine larger land areas and multiple seams at greater depths. New reclamation methods and approaches also must evolve to minimize cumulative impacts on aquatic, terrestrial, and human resources. Mined land reforestation practices over the past 80 years illustrate the evolution of reclamation in the eastern coalfields of the U. S. Prior to the implementation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), tree planting was synonymous with reclamation. Grassland reclamation became the dominant approach post-SMCRA. As stakeholders of the mining and reclamation process have begun to appreciate the value of forest ecosystems, there is greater emphasis on ensuring land and forest restoration and proper ecosystem functioning on reclaimed mined land. A forestry reclamation approach is supplanting grassland reclamation where forests are the logical post- mining land use. Restoring forestland capability, native species, and watershed protection are positive outcomes. However, greater public demand for stream protection, water quality, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, native wildlife habitat, and human protection may require a more comprehensive ecosystem reclamation approach. In my view, the components of such an approach already have a good basis in science and could be applied through a process of adaptive management in the event such an approach is needed to help the coal industry in the U. S. maintain its social license to operate.

English

Mined land reclamation and reforestation issues traditionally have been viewed in scientific and regulatory terms over the last thirty years. However, in this paper we explore levels of political trust among stakeholders -- the coal industry, regulators, scientists and environmentalists -- in the coal mining states of West Virginia and Wyoming who are responsible for designing and implementing the scientific and regulatory terms of reclamation pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). Survey data collected from 400 stakeholders and in-depth interviews document stakeholder attitudes about trust in the reclamation process (i.e., planning process through implementation) and in other stakeholders. Preliminary findings indicate that many SMCRA stakeholders (including scientists) hold pessimistic views about the fairness, legitimacy and inclusiveness of the reclamation process. We also find that a sizeable number of stakeholders have a substantial lack of trust in other stakeholders, results which lend support to historical and anecdotal accounts of dissension among SMCRA stakeholders. Our study suggests that even if the best reclamation/reforestation science is implemented correctly, key stakeholders responsible for designing and implementing it may not view on the ground results of reclamation as a success because they lack trust in the reclamation process and in each other. In other words, the significance of political trust should not be undervalued. Recent reclamation efforts by members of the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) illustrate this point. Despite an aggressive scientific and technical outreach by ARRI's leaders, they report that serious cultural barriers remain pervasive in the Appalachian coalfields. Political trust issues are likely limiting the benefits that ARRI's scientific advances can achieve.

English

It is well known that soil microbial communities reestablish following disturbance, but limited research has been done on how long this takes in eastern reclaimed coal mine soils. The objective of this study was to track the development of total microbial biomass in reclaimed mine soils following coal mining in southwestern Virginia. A chronosequence of sites was established based on locally documented shifts in vegetation species with succession (0-2, 5-7, 18-20, and 38-42 yr old) on reclaimed sites with undisturbed adjacent sites used as a reference. The 0-2 yr old sites were covered with annual and perennial grasses and forbs, the 5-7 yr sites by thick stands of Lespedeza cuneata, the 18-20 yr sites predominately with Festuca arundinaceae and patches of deciduous trees, and the 38-42 yr old sites with a mix of planted conifers and native Appalachian hardwoods with a grass understory. Undisturbed sites predominately supported mixed Appalachian hardwoods with a mixed forb/grass understory. Four samples were taken from each site age (3 replicates) at the 0-5 cm depth. Chloroform-fumigation- extraction was used to determine total organic carbon from lysed microbial cells as a proxy for microbial biomass. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) did not vary significantly among any of the site ages sampled; however, a general trend of increasing MBC from a low level in the more recently reclaimed sites (131-138 g microbial C kg -1 soil) to a higher level of MBC in the 16-20 and 38-42 yr sites (280 and 244 g microbial C kg -1 soil, respectively) was observed. This indicated a recovery of soil microbial communities with time; possibly well within the 5-year vegetation liability release period mandated by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA).

Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004 (review)

Reviewed by: Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004 Chad Montrie Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004. By Shirley Stewart Burns. (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2007. Pp. xviii, 215.) With a long family history of underground coal mining behind her, including a grandfather and a father dead from black lung, Shirley Stewart Burns speaks with personal authority about the ways the coal industry has harmed the land and people of southern West Virginia. Drawing on her training as a journalist and historian, she also exercises considerable skill in detailing the expansion of mountaintop removal (MTR) and its growing opposition. Her book, Bringing Down the Mountains, organizes this story into six chapters. It starts with an overview of southern West Virginia strip mining and continues with sections on the social and environmental impact of mountaintop removal, the rise and decline of the United Mine Workers, coal politics in West Virginia, as well as recent judicial decisions on MTR regulation. Burns contends that mountaintop removal has become increasingly prevalent in her part of the country for several reasons. First, during the twentieth century the coal industry made great efforts to reduce labor costs through mechanization, and the different variants of strip mining—MTR is only the latest—are part of that trend. Secondly, the Clean Air Act, passed in the early 1970s, made southern West Virginia's relatively low-sulfur coal more marketable, enticing coal operators as well as giant energy [End Page 125] conglomerates. And lastly, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), passed in 1977, failed to prohibit mountaintop removal, as many activists had demanded. In fact, the regulatory legislation made exception for MTR and, with industry-friendly enforcement, it basically sanctioned legalized destruction in the coalfields. Bringing Down the Mountains also insists that mountaintop removal is the product of West Virginia's role as periphery to a resource- and wealth-extracting core. This explains, in part, why opponents of MTR and strip mining in general have had such a difficult time getting the coal industry to abide by even weak environmental control laws, like SMCRA and the Clean Water Act. Again and again, Burns rightly points out, the people (including miners) have seen their interests disregarded by the state legislature, Congress, and state and federal courts. This is no coincidence, she tells us, but rather the fruits of a neo-colonial relationship with the rest of the nation, ever in need of more coal. Yet, while Burns provides readers with an incisive and critical look at MTR in the one place where it has become most common, Bringing Down the Mountains is wanting in several ways. The historical background on strip mining's opposition is too brief to provide adequate context (three or four pages, compared to the lengthier but less essential overview of 1920s UMW history). In particular, the book makes no mention of 1960s grassroots militancy, which historians need to explore in much greater detail. Just as importantly, it does not attend to the origins and evolution of a post-SMCRA opposition, from the late 1970s to the present, saving a few scattered paragraphs. Neither does it completely fill out the contemporary struggle, neglecting the now yearly, youth-led Mountain Justice Summer campaigns, an interesting and promising injection of "global justice" thinking and tactics. One of the main reasons for oversights in Bringing Down the Mountains is a thin primary source base. With the exception of articles from the New York Times and Charleston Gazette, dating mostly to the late 1990s and the first few years of the twenty-first century, Burns relies heavily on an incomplete secondary literature. This would be understandable if she were merely writing a journalistic-style overview, a "first draft of history," but we already have plenty of those on MTR (in print and film), and the book should be more. To do this—a multi-part project some aspiring graduate students or other scholars might consider—an historian would have to look also at coal and energy trade journals, the United Mine Workers Journal and other union sources, newsletters from...

English

The Enos Gob Pile, located in Pike County, Indiana, is a 250-acre refuse disposal area emplaced prior to the August 3, 1977 enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). Two passive treatment systems totaling approximately 64-acres were constructed in 2005 by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Reclamation (IDOR) to treat AMD discharging from the refuse disposal area. IDOR, with the assistance of the OSM, Mid-Continent Regional Office (OSM-MCR) designed the passive treatment system at the site that includes: 1) addition of alkaline water (alkalinity = 242 mg/L) from adjacent pre-SMCRA mine impoundments, 2) construction of two vertical flow ponds (VFP) for additional alkalinity enhancement, and 3) excavation of a series of oxidation ponds and aerobic wetlands for metal precipitation. The system was designed to handle a large amount of acidic runoff during storm events (1.5 to 2.0 CFS). Underlying and surrounding the refuse pile is mine spoil with a generally favorable neutralization potential. As a result of that neutralization the water entering each VFP is relatively low in iron (19.2 mg/L) and total acidity (92 mg/L). However, the designers were required to consider the impact of a significant amount of Al (5.2 mg/L) on the life expectancy of the VFP. Post-construction evaluations are being assisted by the Indiana Geological Survey (IGS). These studies indicate nearly complete Fe removal by the system (total iron = 0.25 mg/L) and a net alkaline discharge (alkalinity exceeds acidity by about 65 mg/L). Although no specific structures were incorporated in the design for Mn removal, Mn is also being removed by the wetland system (3.7 mg/L in the VFP inlet, 0.23 mg/L at the system outlet). Improvements in metal removal occurred when aquatic vegetation developed. Additional studies will evaluate the reduction in system efficiency during winter months and a comparison of the alkalinity generated by the two parallel VFPs one with dolomitic limestone and one with high-calcium limestone, as an alkalinity source. Additional

Preemptive Federalism or Regulatory Dismantlement? The Bush Administration's Implementation of the Federal Coal Mining Reclamation Program

This article examines the implementation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) under the administration of President George W. Bush. It addresses a problem that is both conceptual and practical: how does a chief executive deal with policies that are at odds with each other? While the original purpose of SMCRA was to reclaim lands adversely affected by coal mining operations, I suggest that implementation efforts since 2001 have placed greater emphasis upon coal production than upon the maintenance of reclamation standards. This has been achieved by combining the factors often found within policy implementation approaches with the discretionary use of executive authority. The net result is that the president's preferred policy position, i.e., the development of domestic energy resources, has been enhanced despite some cost to countervailing policy goals, i.e., the conservation of water quality and wildlife in Appalachia.

English

Providing a common set of technology tools to regulators and reclamation specialists in the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is helping to streamline the mandates of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). The Technical Innovation and Professional Services (TIPS) Team consists of 32 people in four OSM offices. In cooperation with State and Tribal regulatory and reclamation agencies, as well as OSM offices nationwide, TIPS provides the latest off-the-shelf scientific and engineering software and hardware tools to federal, state, and tribal experts. These are the same tools used commonly by the mining industry. With the industry regulators and reclamation specialists at the state, tribal, and federal level using the same tools, exchange of information is facilitated and the regulatory and reclamation processes are expedited. This has become an extraordinarily efficient way to carry out the reclamation and regulatory mandates of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. TIPS began in 1987 as a team of nine persons serving 28 customer locations in 24 states. Today the Team provides scientific and engineering modeling software, hardware, and full training classes to 700 customers in 96 office locations at 24 states, three tribes, and 15 federal offices. This team of innovators holds costs low through shared licensing of the software via the Internet and centralized federal procurement contracts. TIPS also provides full software support and training classes at no cost to its customers. These are specially tailored courses, customized specifically around mining applications of the software. Customers value this training so much that they volunteer as instructors. Over half of all TIPS instructors today come from the customer base. The innovators of TIPS have fostered electronic exchange of data between federal, state, and tribal agencies for 20 years. Their hard work has brought mining reclamation and regulation to increasing levels of efficiency. The most recent two years have brought significant department cooperation and subsequent progress for TIPS, and they continue to pursue new technology and the tools to promote better and more efficient enforcement of the Surface Mining Act. Additional

English

Since the enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) thousands of grassland habitats have been created in eastern North America. In western Pennsylvania over 50 species of birds including, eleven species that are either listed as threatened, endangered or as special concern, have been observed using grasslands and wetlands on reclaimed mines. In addition to these bird species, the endangered Massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus) has been observed foraging on grasslands on two mine sites in western Pennsylvania. Although the development of wildlife habitats can be incorporated into the reclamation of mine lands, the specific habitats for threatened and endangered species are generally not a defined objective of the reclamation of mine lands. Because threatened and endangered species nest and forage on grasslands and wetlands on mine lands, they should be given consideration during the reclamation of mine lands.

A Procedure for NEPA Assessment of Selenium Hazards Associated With Mining

This paper gives step-by-step instructions for assessing aquatic selenium hazards associated with mining. The procedure was developed to provide the U.S. Forest Service with a proactive capability for determining the risk of selenium pollution when it reviews mine permit applications in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The procedural framework is constructed in a decision-tree format in order to guide users through the various steps, provide a logical sequence for completing individual tasks, and identify key decision points. There are five major components designed to gather information on operational parameters of the proposed mine as well as key aspects of the physical, chemical, and biological environment surrounding it--geological assessment, mine operation assessment, hydrological assessment, biological assessment, and hazard assessment. Validation tests conducted at three mines where selenium pollution has occurred confirmed that the procedure will accurately predict ecological risks. In each case, it correctly identified and quantified selenium hazard, and indicated the steps needed to reduce this hazard to an acceptable level. By utilizing the procedure, NEPA workers can be confident in their ability to understand the risk of aquatic selenium pollution and take appropriate action. Although the procedure was developed for the Forest Service it should also be useful to other federal land management agencies that conduct NEPA assessments, as well as regulatory agencies responsible for issuing coal mining permits under the authority of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and associated Section 401 water quality certification under the Clean Water Act. Mining companies will also benefit from the application of this procedure because priority selenium sources can be identified in relation to specific mine operating parameters. The procedure will reveal the point(s) at which there is a need to modify operating conditions to meet environmental quality goals. By recognizing concerns early in the NEPA process, it may be possible for a mining company to match operational parameters with environmental requirements, thereby increasing the likelihood that the permit application will be approved.

Appalachian Mine Soil Morphology and Properties

Surface coal mining and reclamation methods in the Appalachians have changed dramatically since the passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977 and subsequent improvements in mining and reclamation technology. In this study, 30 pre‐SMCRA mine soil profiles (4–20 yr old) were examined and sampled in 1980 and compared with 20 mine soil profiles (8–13 yr old) described in the same area in 2002 after it had been completely remined by modern deep cut methods. Mine soils in both sampling years had high rock fragment content (42–81%), relatively well‐developed A horizons, and generally exhibited A‐C or A‐AC‐C horizonation. Although six Bw horizons were described in 1980, only two met all requirements for cambic horizons. The 1980 mine soils developed in overburden dominated by oxidized, preweathered material due to relatively shallow mining cuts. The 1980 mine soils had lower rock fragment content, finer textures, lower pH, and tended to be more heterogeneous in horizonation, morphology, and texture than soils observed in 2002, which had formed primarily in unweathered overburden from deeper cuts. Half the pedons sampled in both years had densic materials within 70 cm of the surface. Four poorly to very poorly drained soil profiles were described in each sampling year containing distinct hydric soil indicators in surface horizons. While older pre‐SMCRA mine soils do have many properties in common with newer mine soils, their properties are highly influenced by the fact that they generally have formed in more weathered overburden from higher in the geologic column. Overall, Appalachian mine soils are much more complex in subsoil morphology than commonly assumed, and differential compaction greatly complicates their internal drainage and limits their overall productivity potential.

English

Abstract. Extensive coal mining in the Cheat watershed that started in the early 20 th century has left many streams and parts of the river severely degraded by acid mine drainage. Very little water treatment was conducted until 1977, when the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) was enacted to prevent degradation from water quality from existing mines and funds were created to restore the abandoned mine sites. This was accomplished through bonding and a tax on coal tonnage. Since SMCRA, several once-active sites have been forfeited to the state to pay for the remediation from the bonding program and several of these contribute to the overall problem. The AML fund from the coal tax addresses the pre-law or previous to 1977 sites by funding reclamation on sites that have no legally responsible party. The headwaters that had escaped damage from mining began seeing the effects of acid precipitation in the late 20th century from Midwest coal fired power plants and many streams lost all alkalinity because of poorly buffered soils. Poor water quality from these streams contributed to the degradation of the river. Because of these activities, much of the lower 25 miles of the watershed were without significant aquatic life by the early 1980s. Reclamation started in the watershed in the early 1980s and many projects have been completed. Not all of the projects addressed AMD; however, water quality has steadily improved over this period and some stream segments have shown significant increases in aquatic life in the past few years. This watershed has been the focus of state and federal agencies, watershed and conservation groups, and efforts are ongoing to further improve the water quality. The Cheat hosts a multitude of recreational activities and this makes continued restoration a high priority.

Forest Productivity and Commercial Value of Pre-Law Reclaimed Mined Land in the Eastern United States

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of mining practices used prior to the passage of the 1977 Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) on forest productivity and commercial value of reclaimed forest sites. Forest productivity and value of 14 mined and 8 nonmined sites throughout the eastern and midwestern coalfield regions were compared. Forest productivity of pre-SMCRA mined sites was equal to or greater than that of nonmined forests, ranging between 3.3 m3ha-1yr-1 and 12.1 m3ha-1yr-1. Management activities such as planting pine and valuable hardwood species increased the stumpage value of forests on reclaimed mine sites. Rotation-age stumpage values on mined study sites ranged between $3,064 ha-1 and $19,528 ha-1 and were commonly greater than stumpage values on nonmined reference sites. Current law requires that mined land be restored to capability levels found prior to mining. These results should provide a benchmark for reforestation success, potential forest productivity, and timber value for current reclamation activities.