SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION ACT

An act passed in 1977 requiring that mine operators take measures to avoid acid or other toxic mine drainage. To correct existing acid drainage problems, the section of the law dealing with abandoned mine land states that land and water affected by mining that took place before 1977 can be cleaned up with fees paid by coal operators into the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund. About 90 percent of existing stream damage in the United States is from underground coal mining that took place before 1977. The federal enforcement agency is the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM).