Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 By: Leeron Azoulai The Surface Mining Control and reclamation Act was drafted in 1977 and amended in 1990 in order to be able to better manage funds. It focuses on a national scope of regulating the environmental effects of in-use and abandoned coal mines.

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) created two different programs when it was signed into law in The first program was for regulating active coal mines, and the second was for reclaiming mines that were either no longer in use, or had been abandoned. The Act established a set of environmentally acceptable guidelines that mines needed to follow in order to operate. It created the need for companies to apply for permits if they wanted to mine a certain site, and they needed to detail their exact plans. Other guidelines set by the act were the need for mines to set money aside for the reclamation of their mine and permission for government inspection to make sure the mine is adhering with the rules established by the act. The act also created the Abandoned Mine Lane Fund (AML) in order to cover the costs of reclamation. The act was amended in 1990 to allow for money from the fund to be used in reclaiming both mines abandoned before the act was signed into law, and mines abandoned post law enactment. The SMCRA addresses many environmental issues, however it was established primarily to cut down the damage done to the land in the process of mining for coal. It primarily deals with the cost of reclaiming land that has already been mined. Before the Act land was just left behind untreated, but SMCRA made it so that mining companies had to help pay to lessen the environmental burden of the land that had been mined.

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act was enacted under president Jimmy Carter and is regulated and enacted by the Department of the Interior. The SMCRA also established the Office of Surface Mining in the Department of the Interior to assist with the cost of Reclaiming unused mining land. All of the policies enacted are put in place in order to lessen the environmental issues caused by mining for coal and to help regulate the industry.