OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING
     RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT

For Release  April 3, 1997  Buck Miller (423) 545-4103, ext. 186 
                                
               SKYLINE COAL MINE PERMIT APPROVED
                                
     The U.S. Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and
Enforcement (OSM) today announced permit approval for Skyline Coal Company's Big
Brush Creek Mine No.2 near Dunlap, Tennessee.

     The mine is a 950-acre extension of the Big Brush Creek Mine No. 1.  Both the
existing and newly approved mines involve the Sewanee coal seam, southern
Tennessee's main coal deposit.  Past mining of the seam without special techniques for
handling overburden materials resulted in acid- and iron-laden discharges from
approximately 50 percent of the sites.  For that reason, OSM has carefully scrutinized
the adequacy of Skyline's material handling plans, which include a number of measures
designed to either prevent acid mine drainage formation or neutralize it at the source.
OSM's technical staff believes that the specially designed measures included in the
permit will not result in water pollution.

     Extensive monitoring during operation and reclamation of the mine will be used
to confirm that the water quality protection measures are effective.  Additional
safeguards have also been included in the permit to provide for appropriate bond
increases in the event of unanticipated problems involving long-term treatment.  The
permit also emphasizes that
no portion of the performance bond will be released until OSM is assured that the
objectives of the hydrologic reclamation plan have been fully met.

     According to George C. Miller, director of OSM's field office in Knoxville,
Tennessee, the surface mining law requires a standard of reasonable certainty that the
operation has been designed (1) to minimize disturbances to surface and ground
waters and (2) to prevent off-site material damage to those waters.  "Those are the
criteria applied in reaching this permit decision," he said.

     Miller said the mining and reclamation techniques required in the approved
permit are based on the most up-to-date scientific approach.  Similar techniques have
thus far proven successful in preventing acid mine drainage from the existing mine, he
added.

     The permit decision applies only to the Big Brush Creek Mine No.2 site, Miller
said. The site conditions are unique to this permit and do not directly apply to other
evaluations being conducted in other watersheds.  "Specifically," Miller said, "this
decision cannot be directly applied to a recent petition asking OSM to declare the
adjacent Fall Creek Falls State Park watershed unsuitable for surface coal mining."