U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary

John Wright (202)208-3171


For Release: May 1, 1996

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt today condemned efforts in Congress aimed at curbing federal authority to enforce the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act on a back-up basis in states where Interior-approved enforcement programs are in place.

"Here they go again," Babbitt said, referring to proponents of S.1401. "They're pretending to promote cost-cutting and getting rid of duplication while their real aim is back-door repeal of the national strip-mine reclamation law."

"Despite the growing number of Republicans who recognize the importance of environmental protection, this is just one more sad installment in an all-too-familiar Congressional attack against the environment," Babbitt said. "As if championing dirty water and espousing polluted air weren't bad enough, now they're trying to gut the surface mining act."

S.1401 (and H.R.2372, its companion bill in the House) were introduced to take away from Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) the authority to write federal enforcement actions against surface mining violations when state regulators do not act, and to weaken other environmental protection measures in the surface mining act.

Babbitt said back-up federal enforcement authority is at the heart of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. "Coalfield citizens frequently cite the presence of federal inspectors in their neighborhoods as one of the most important benefits they get from the surface mining law," he said. "That's what they count on to make the coalfields good places to live, work, farm, and raise families." "Understandably, people value clean air, clean water, land reclamation, and environmental protection laws like the surface mining act that are strong and fair," Babbitt said. The surface mining law works. It's got to be defended against these attempts to repeal the back-up enforcement authority that's been the key to its success." Removing federal back-up enforcement authority also takes away Interior's flexibility in resolving problems with state surface mine regulators, Babbitt said. "Without back-up enforcement authority in individual cases, the only remedy Interior has left when a state doesn't do its job is revoking the state's surface mining program altogether," Babbitt explained. "That's just too inflexible. It's too drastic, compared with the current system, which works." "These mischievous bills would undermine the progress made so far in the development of quality state surface mining programs," Babbitt said. "Without the enforcement tools these bills seek to destroy, the quality programs the states have developed simply would not exist." Babbitt warned: "If federal back-up enforcement authority is lost, expect to see the coal industry urging the states in a headlong 'race to the bottom' to weaken their surface mine enforcement and environmental protection programs. Environmental quality will be sacrificed to economic competition and the push for jobs. The level playing field we've established will tilt steeply against protection of the environment." Although federal back-up enforcement authority is not frequently used, its availability helps motivate state regulators to enforce the law consistently while assuring coalfield residents that they can take their complaints about surface mining violations to federal regulators if necessary, Babbitt said. "The claim of federal-state 'duplication' and 'second-guessing' of state inspectors is a sham," Babbitt said. "The true aim of these bills is to take a system that works and break it." Babbitt noted that OSM Director Robert J. Uram will testify in opposition to S.1401 on May 2, 1996, before the Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.