Passed by Congress in 1977, this all-encompassing regulatory program addresses every environmental facet of surface and underground mining operations. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), created an entire federal regulatory program specifically for coal mining operations. SMCRA also created a new federal regulatory authority, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement (OSM), to permit and inspect mining operations across the country. SMCRA’s permitting requirements are comprehensive and require the submission of detailed information regarding all aspects of mine design, operation and reclamation.
SMCRA also established a process by which states could assume the primary authority for the environmental regulation of mining activities through a process referred to as “primacy”. In a primacy state, the permitting and regulation of mining operations is maintained by a state environmental protection agency with oversight from OSM.
State primacy programs must meet the standards established under SMCRA with respect to program stringency, permitting requirements and environmental inspection frequency.
If a state fails to meet these SMCRA requirements, OSM can revoke primacy and takeover the inspection and permitting of mines within that state. West Virginia has primacy under the federal surface mining laws and maintains its own set of detailed and comprehensive statutes and regulations.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Mining & Reclamation (WV DEP) administers West Virginia’s mining regulatory program. In addition to meeting the requirements of SMCRA, West Virginia’s mining regulatory program is considerably more stringent than the federal regulations. West Virginia has more stringent controls on reclamation, post-mining land uses and disturbed areas than OSM or our surrounding states. West Virginia also has more stringent requirements on blasting, with an entire division of WV DEP dedicated solely to inspection and monitoring of surface mine production and underground mine development blasting.
In addition to regulating active mining, SMCRA imposes strict requirements on reclamation of mined areas. For example, SMCRA requires that all surface mined areas be returned to approximate original contour (AOC) unless a mine operator can demonstrate that leaving a mine site configured with flat, or more gentle relief will lead to a beneficial post-mining land use such as industrial or housing development.
SMCRA also requires that all mine operators furnish financial instruments to guarantee the completion of reclamation and land restoration following the completion of coal recovery. Coal companies typically post bonds with the agency to cover the cost of reclamation should an operator go out of business. Any shortfall between the actual cost of reclamation and the bonds is covered by a bonding pool that is funded with a tax on active coal production. The bonds are not released by the agency until the company has demonstrated compliance with the approved reclamation plan.
In addition to these program basics, recent changes to West Virginia’s surface mining regulatory program are detailed in a separate attachment to this section. These changes were made to specifically address concerns related to surface mining operations. In most cases, these West Virginia revisions exceed the requirements mandated under SMCRA by OSM and the similar programs in other states.