2004 FEDERAL OVERSIGHT OF STATE PROGRAMS

	Federal Oversight of State Programs: 2004 (10/1/03 - 9/30/04)

Section 517(a) of the Surface Mining Law requires the Office of Surface Mining to make inspections as necessary to evaluate the administration of approved state programs. To implement these duties, the Office of Surface Mining works with states and other interested parties to seek consensus on oversight techniques. To maintain objectivity, the Office of Surface Mining also plans and conducts inspections, independent reviews, and technical analyses. The table below summarizes the Office of Surface Mining's oversight inspection and enforcement activities during 2004. Statistics for 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, and 1997 are also available.

State	Site Visits	Violations	Cessation Orders	Cessation Orders
		Violations Cited in Office of Surface Mining Enforcement¹
		Notice of Violation	Failure-To-Abate	Imminent Harm
Alabama	84⁴	0	0	0
Alaska	4	0	0	0
Arkansas	7	0	0	0
Colorado	16	0	0	0
Illinois	105	2	1	0
Indiana	75	0	0	0
Iowa	0	0	0	0
Kansas	4	0	0	0
Kentucky	301	0	0	0
Louisiana	2	0	0	0
Maryland	25	0	0	0
Mississippi	3	0	0	0
Missouri	63²	0	0	0
Montana	4	0	0	0
New Mexico	4	0	0	0
North Dakota	9	0	0	0
Ohio	105⁴	0	0	0
Oklahoma	34	0	0	0
Pennsylvania	461	1	2	0
Texas	15	0	0	0
Utah	10	0	0	0
Virginia	132	1	0	0
West Virginia	186	4	1	0
Wyoming	20	0	0	0
Total	1,669⁵	8³	4³	2

1. Excludes any Notice of Violations or Cessation Orders that have been vacated.
2. Includes only Office of Surface Mining oversight inspections.
3. Of the eight Notice of Violations, six were for Abandoned Mine Land Fee related problems (Illinois 2, Pennsylvania 1, Virginia 1, and West Virginia 2) and of the four Cessation Orders, four were for Abandoned Mine Land Fee related problems (Illinois 1, Pennsylvania 2, and West Virginia 1).
4. Includes Notice of Intent inspections (Alabama 7 and Ohio 1).
5. Includes 16 inspections related to Abandoned Mine Land Fee collection (Alabama 1, Illinois 3, Pennsylvania 3, Virginia 3, and West Virginia 6).

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Office of Surface Mining
1951 Constitution Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
202-208-2719
getinfo@osmre.gov