OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION & ENFORCEMENT For Release July 23, 1996 Jerry Childress (202) 208-2719 jchildre@osmre.gov OSM & PITTSTON COAL COMPANY SETTLE CONTRACT MINE OWNERSHIP & CONTROL CASE The Interior Departmentūs Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) today said Virginia-based Pittston Coal Company has agreed to take responsibility for unpaid reclamation debt and reclamation obligations of contract mining companies that produced coal for Pittston in the early 1980s. Under its agreement with OSM, Pittston will be listed by OSM as owning and controlling the contractors and/or contract mining sites but will not be blocked from getting new coal mine permits because of contractorsū violations that Pittston is correcting. The formal agreement resolves a longstanding legal dispute over listing Pittston on the Applicant Violator System (AVS) as a presumed owner/controller of the contractorsū coal mining operations. AVS is OSMūs computerized data base of unresolved violations plus coal mine ownership and control links. The settlement also ends Pittstonūs federal lawsuit against OSM stemming from the dispute, and should help resolve cases involving up to 13 sites that are the subject of citizen complaints at coal mines in Virginia and West Virginia. Under the agreement Pittston will pay debt owed by the contract miners to the national Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, in addition to what Pittston has already paid as a result of reclamation fee audits. Interest and penalties on the debt were waived. The Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund receives fees from coal producers nationwide at the rate of 35› per ton of surface mined coal, 15› per ton of coal mined underground, and 10› per ton of lignite. OSM fee compliance audits of coal operators have resulted in an overall collection rate of approximately 99 percent nationally. The money is used to reclaim abandoned mine lands (AML). Pittston will also treat acid mine drainage in Virginia as part of OSM's Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative. Prior to reaching agreement with OSM, Pittston reclaimed at no cost to state surface coal mine regulators 13 Virginia sites where environmental performance bonds were forfeited, plus two other sites where state enforcement actions are pending. In addition, Pittston signed a separate agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia resolving a number of state-cited violations, including bond forfeitures, state civil penalties, bond pool expenditures, and other costs pertaining to bond forfeiture sites. Under the agreement with OSM, Pittston will perform additional remedial reclamation in Virginia. Pittston has also reclaimed Glory Coal Company sites and will reclaim sites mined by ZY Coal Company, as part of an agreement with the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection. Although the settlement resolves ownership and control issues with Pittston, OSM said the contractors originally responsible for the AML debt or reclamation violations will remain blocked on AVS from obtaining coal mine permits until the remaining debt is paid. OSM and the Interior Department's Solicitor have attempted to collect the debt from the original contract mining companies, but the contractors are no longer active in the coal industry. Most of the civil penalty debt involved in the settlement is older than OSMūs official definition of ownership and control, which was set in 1988. Twelve of the 19 Cessation Orders involved were written before that, dating from before 1983, OSM said. In recognition of the reclamation being performed by Pittston, civil penalty debt is being forgiven. Similarly, 18 of the 28 Notices of Violation covered in the agreement are from before 1982, and 9 of the rest were written between 1984 and 1987. In August 1995, OSM formed a team to work on a proposed settlement agreement with Pittston aimed at resolving all outstanding ownership and control disputes between OSM and Pittston. The team worked in cooperation with the states of Virginia and West Virginia, the environmental community, and the coal company. -DOI- Frequently requested information about OSM is available 24 hours a day by Fax-on-Demand at: (202) 219-1703.