National inventory of abandoned mine land problems: an emphasis on health, safety, and general welfare impacts
In 1977 Congress passed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, which provided for the abatement of abandoned mine land (AML) problems through a reclamation program funded by a severance tax on current mining. AML was defined as any land, including associated buildings, equipment, and affected areas, that was no longer being used for coal mining by August 1977. This act also created the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) in the Department of the Interior to administer the AML program and to assume other regulatory and research responsibilities. This report documents the design, implementation, and results of a National inventory of the most serious problems associated with past mining practices. One of the objectives of the Inventory was to help OSM and the participating states locate, identify, and rank AML problems and estimate their reclamation costs. Other objectives were to encourage states and Indian tribes to collect such data and to provide OSM with the information necessary to guide its decision-making processes and to quantify the progress of the reclamation program. Because only limited funds were available to design and implement the National inventory and because the reclamation fund established by the Act may never be sufficient to correct all AML problems, OSM has focused on only the top-priority problems. It is stressed that this is not an inventory of AML features but rather an inventory of AML impacts. It should be noted that the data and analysis contained in this report are based on a data collection effort conducted by the states, Indian tribes, and OSM contractors between 1979 and mid-1982.
- Research Organization:
- Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville (USA); Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 6651749
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL-6070; ON: DE84016741
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Abandoned mine lands: a mid-course review of the national reclamation program for coal. Final report
Setting priorities for abandoned-mine land research. Final report
Related Subjects
010900 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Environmental Aspects
012000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Mining
ABANDONED SITES
CLASSIFICATION
COAL MINING
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EROSION
GROUND SUBSIDENCE
INVENTORIES
LAND RECLAMATION
LAWS
MINING
MINING LAWS
NORTH AMERICA
SPOIL BANKS
SURFACE MINING
SURFACE MINING ACTS
USA