ATTACHMENT TO THE REPORT TO HON. JAMES A. HALEY FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ON H.R. 3, H. J. RES. 36, H.R. 181, H.R. 726, H.R. 1000, H.R. 1411, H.R. 1603, H.R. 2380, H.R. 2425, H.R. 2551, H.R. 2677, H.R. 2861, and H.R. 3518.

The following is a summary of the general provisions of the various bills relating to surface mining:

H.R. 3, H.R. 726, H.R. 1411, H.R. 2425, AND H.R. 3518

These bills provide for the regulation of surface coal mining for the conservation, acquisition, and reclamation of surface areas affected by coal mining activities. These identical bills providing for the "Coal Mine Surface Area Protection Act of 1973" would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to prescribe rules and regulations for carrying out the Act, including special regulations with respect to open pit coal mining; to issue surface mining permits; to prescribe requirements for reclamation plans; to declare areas unsuitable for surface mining when it would be physically or economically impossible to provide satisfactory reclamation; to acquire and reclaim coal surface mined lands unreclaimed on the date of enactment of the legislation using a revolving reclamation fund established for that purpose.

States could adopt and enforce standards related to the conduct of surface coal mining operations and enforce standards related to the conduct of surface coal mining operations and reclamation, provided State standards are at least as stringent as those developed by the Secretary. The Secretary could make grants to States to assist in such State regulation program. The Secretary is also directed to appoint an Advisory Committee on Coal Mining Research.

H.J.RES. 36

This bill authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Interior to forbid prospecting, exploration, development, or removal of coal deposits by surface mining methods on all public lands and acquired lands of the United States and on all Indian lands, and to prohibit underground coal mining in public and acquired lands in the national forests.

H.R. 181

This bill provides for the restoration of all lands located in the United States upon which strip mining operations are being or have been carried out, and for other purposes. H.R. 181 directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop and implement a national plan for restoration of mined land, also which plan must provide for "the full restoration of all such lands to their condition prior to the date upon which any such mining operation began." The bill provides that no product from a surface mine may be sold, in interstate commerce, after July 1, 1974, unless the mine operator has a restoration plan which has been approved by the Secretary. The Secretary is also authorized to acquire surface-mined land and to effect its restoration. Any such land is to be used for wildlife or recreation purposes following restoration.

H.R. 1000, H.R. 2551, and H.R. 2677

These bills provide for the control of surface and underground coal mining operations which adversely affect the quality of our environment, and for other purposes.

The proposed legislation which would be administered by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency applies to both surface and underground mining of coal. It prohibits sufrace mining of coal on National Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, National Parks, and underground coal mining in designated wilderness areas. It also prohibits the beginning or renewal of surface mining operations and contour surface mining in any State after the effective date of the proposed Act. Current surface mining operations could be continued under limited permits. Within two months after the effective date of the Act, no surface or underground coal mining operations may be engaged in without a permit issued by the Administrator. States are not precluded from adopting and enforcing mining regulations provided they are at least as stringent as those developed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Corps of Engineers is authorized to acquire lands which have been affected by surface

mining and not fully stabilized and to stabilize such lands, utilizing a special stabilization fund established for that purpose.

H.R. 1603

This bill provides for the cooperation between the Federal Government and the States with respect to environmental regulations for mining operations, for the prevention, control, and abatement of water pollution, and for other purposes.

Titles I, II, and III of the bill relate to regulation of mining operations. The Secretary of the Interior would be authorized to review and approve State environmental regulations for mining operations that meet the criteria set out in the bill, and to impose Federal regulations if a State fails to submit satisfactory regulations within two years after enactment of the legislation. The Secretary could conduct research and grant States financial and other assistance in administering its regulations. Federal agencies could promulgate regulations governing mining on lands administered by them.

Title IV of the bill would amend Section 10 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. This proposed amendment is not directly or specifically related to mining or to reclamation of mined lands, and therefore its provisions are not summarized.

H.R. 2380

This bill provides for the regulation of strip coal mining, for the preservation, acquisition, and reclamation of strip coal mining areas, and for other purposes.

Administration of the Act proposed by this bill would be the responsibility of a Strip Mine Reclamation Commission of three members appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Commission would provide for a nationwide program to reclaim lands and waters damaged by strip coal mining, including establishment of criteria and standards for the reclamation, conservation, and protection of future strip mine areas. It would have authority to prohibit strip mining where it would be impossible to reclaim the land, and to issue licenses for strip mining when the requirements of the Act and regulations have been met. A Strip Mining Reclamation Fund would be established for the acquisition and reclamation of unreclaimed strip mine areas. The bill prohibits mining of previously strip mined lands which have been reclaimed, and the leasing, or renewal of any existing leases, of any land owned by the Federal Government for strip mining.

H.R. 2861

This bill provides for cooperation between the Secretary of the Interior and the States with respect to the regulation of surface mining operations, and for other purposes.

This bill includes all surface mining, including auger mining. It directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop mandatory standards for surface mining operations, including reclamation of surface mined lands. It prohibits surface mining without a permit from the Secretary. He would have authority to acquire and reclaim lands affected by surface mining which have not been reclaimed, using a "Strip Mining Reclamation Fund" for that purpose. A "Strip Mining Advisory Commission" would be established to consult with and advise the Secretary with respect to the establishment of standards and regulations. On petition by a State, and upon a finding by the Secretary as to adequacy of the State law with respect to strip mining, the Secretary may delegate authority to the State to enforce provisions of the Act.

Mrs. MINK. Mr. Udall, any questions?

Mr. UDALL. Mr. Whitt, I understand that the Interior Department is the lead Agency on this legislation and that they sent you here on behalf of the Department of Agriculture to support their statement, and that your Department prefers the enactment of H.R. 4863. Mr. WHITT. Yes, sir.

Mr. UDALL What Department or Bureau of the Department of Agriculture owns lands on which there is now, or potentially could be, surface mining activity?

Mr. WHITT. Major land holdings, of course, Mr. Udall, are in the national forests, and to some extent, the national grasslands, some 187 million acres of land.

Mr. UDALL. Do you have any figures showing the extent in acreage or tons of production or any other measure, the extent of extraction of minerals from USDA lands at the present time?

Mr. WHITT. No, sir, I do not have the specific data with me; I would be glad to supply it for the record, if you wish.

Mrs. MINK. Without objection, you will supply that. We will insert it in the record at this point.

[The material referred to follows:]

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

FOREST SERVICE,

Washington, D.C., April 19, 1973.

Hon. JAMES A. HALEY,

Chairman, Committee on Interior

and Insular Affairs,

House of Representatives

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The following information is in response to your request for data on acreages of National Forest System lands mined by surface methods.

The figures must be considered as informed estimates based on incomplete data gathered over a relatively brief time from our people on the ground and in our Regional Offices.

The data for acreages mined are substantially the same as a year ago since little National Forest land has been committed to surface mining in the interim.

The figures for acreages potentially minable by surface methods are tenuous. Mineral resources are hidden from view and must be found and by some means measured before even the determination as to method of mining can be made. The stratified deposits, of which good examples are coal and phosphates, best lend themselves to more nearly realistic predictions of their areal extent and the probable methods of production. Estimates for other kinds of mineral deposits are much more difficult to make and we must depend to a great extent on mineral production history, geologic potentialities, growths in demand, topographic and geographic environments, and related factors.

The stratified deposits are not only easier to estimate as to extent and probable mining method but, in terms of mining as a land use, they involve more land than any and probably all other minerals except sand and gravel. Individual operations producing the latter seldom approach the size of an open pit copper or coal strip mine but, in the aggregate, sand and gravel operations involve large areas of land throughout the country.

We attempted to determine the acreages involved in production of each mineral commodity. It proved impossible to do in a short time, although one of our Regions does have quite good information both by commodities and by States. A detailed inventory would be both time-consuming and expensive.

ACRES OF NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM LANDS INVOLVED IN AND WITH POTENTIAL FOR MINING BY SURFACE METHODS, BY REGIONS

Nearly the full gamut of commodities is represented in the foregoing. It includes coal, phosphate, sand and gravel, stone, clays, pumice and other materials of volcanic origin, iron, manganese, copper, cobalt, molybdenum, lead, silver, zinc, gold, barite, talc, asbestos and related minerals, fluorite, semiprecious gems, uranium, pegmatite minerals, and various others.

Some of the greatest impacts will come from still-pending coal production in the West, particularly on the Custer National Forest in Montana and on the National Grasslands in Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota. The range management required for environmental quality controls in connection with existing and pending mining operations is as broad and complex as the extant methods of prospecting, exploration, development, and mining. Some of the other significant problems foreseen involve phosphate mining, both East and West. Potential acreages involved are rather large, as many as 28,750 in Florida, for instance.

The SEAM project (Surface Environment and Mining) of the Department of Agriculture, involving the 11 Western States, is designed to gather information to serve local, regional, and national needs in connection with the environmental management aspects of mining. The project is designed to mesh with the Northern Great Plains Resources Study of the Department of the Interior and other agencies. Broad representation of disciplines and interests is contemplated in both studies. The results of those and other related programs will give States, local communities and interests, and Federal land managers much information needed for better, more comprehensive resource management that will serve both short and long term needs. Sincerely,

PHILIP THORNTON,

Deputy Chief, Forest Service.

Mr. UDALL. Under the present system and the present law without regard to the enactment of the administration's bill and the other proposals before us, does the Interior Department now administer, regulate, and control the mining operations on USDA lands?

Mr. WHITT. The guidelines that are established in the Department of Interior are considered in the Forest Service on the way in which mining under lease, license, or permit where applicable will take place on the National Forest System lands, but they are controlled by the Forest Service, Mr. Udall.

Mr. UDALL. If I applied today for a permit under existing law to mine coal or copper or other minerals on the Forest Service land, who passes on that permit?

Mr. WHITT. You would make contact with the Forest Service.

Mr. UDALL. You would pass on it using the guidelines laid down. by Bureau of Mines and the Department of the Interior?

Mr. WHITT. I am not in the Forest Service, Mr. Udall, but my understanding is that you would go first to the Forest Service. I do not have the details on all of the procedures that would take place before the mining would go forward on those lands.

Mr. SAYLOR. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. UDALL. Yes.

Mr. SAYLOR. I do not want this record to get balled up with a statement like you have just given us here. Before you can do any mining in a National Forest, it depends upon whether lands have been set-aside in the 17 Western States as distinguished from the acquired forest lands in the East.

Mr. WHITT. Yes, sir.

Mr. SAYLOR. On the public domain lands of the West you do not get a permit at all. When you have proved to the Interior Department that you have done your assessment work, and made a valid discovery of a locatable mineral, you can get title of the property.

Mr. WHITT. Yes, sir.

Mr. SAYLOR. The Federal Government does not issue permits for locatable minerals in the West, is not that correct?

Mr. WHITT. That is my understanding.

Mr. SAYLOR. Then, with regard to the acquired grasslands_that you have, or some of the Western forest lands, the Bankhead Jones lands, you have a permit system. Now you got rid of a lot of that Bankhead Jones lands because Congress gave you the right some years ago to sell some of that land; but the Department of Agriculture has complete control over that, do they not?

Mr. WHITT. That is my understanding, Mr. Saylor.

Mr. SAYLOR. There you can get a permit from the Forest Service, but the Interior Department sets up the rules and regulations with regard to how the mining is to be done, is that not correct?

Mr. WHITT. That is my understanding, Mr. Saylor. The basis on which I was asked to come before the committee was to deal with any of the technical questions relating to the matter of mining, and not the regulations and policies, Mr. Saylor.

Mr. SAYLOR. The third classification of lands that the Forest Service has under its jurisdiction are lands east of the Mississippi River, which are basically the acquired forest lands.

Mr. WHITT. Yes, sir.

Mr. SAYLOR. There you have a whole hodge-podge of different types of titles, some you own in fee, some you have leases, some you only have rights-of-ways, flowing agreements, in others, the minerals are outstanding in third person.

In those instances, the people that want to mine in that area get a permit from the Department of Agriculture under the rules and regulations issued by the Secretary of Agriculture. Is this not correct? Mr. WHITT. That is my understanding, Mr. Saylor.

Mr. SAYLOR. Then we are straight. We do not want somebody to read this record and think that we do not know that there is a difference in the types of land that the Department of Agriculture has under its jurisdiction

Mr. WHITT. Yes, sir.

Mr. UDALL. This is one of the many reasons why it is so valuable to have Mr. Saylor sitting on this committee. Stored in his mind are so many facts and so much good information to keep us straight. I did not know on what basis he had been asked to appear here, and without any criticism of you, we would have been better off, for you are obviously a very skilled man in your own field, to have somebody to talk policy in terms of the regulations by the Department of Agriculture on minerals on its land. Apparently it is a very complex subject. according to Mr. Saylor's description of it.

Would there be any change in the way that mining permits or mining claims are administered in the event that the administration bill is passed?

Mr. WHITT. I am not aware of any, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. UDALL. Of course the complicated and many-faceted kinds of Federal lands, putting in the types of things that Mr. Saylor outlined, seems to me a very good argument for having enforcement vested in one place. If we are going to have a National Surface