All Sides Suspicious of OSM/BLM Consolidation Plan

The U.S. Department of the Interior has proposed consolidating the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Many have expressed surprise and suspicion about the plan. The BLM is much larger, concentrated in the West and leases public land for mining, grazing and drilling. The smaller OSM regulates surface coal mines and has more offices in the East. Aimee Erickson is the executive director of the national coalfield community group, Citizens Coal Council. She says she is afraid the already weak and smaller agency could see its mission watered down to nothing. "If the OSM's ability to enforce and do oversight is diminished, we can't afford that in the coal fields." One argument for consolidation is that OSM is much better at reclaiming abandoned mine lands, using funds from a per-ton fee on coal. Jason Bostic, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, says his constituents do not want to see the reclamation fund used to clean up BLM's backlog of abandoned non-coal mines...more