Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1978

Long title	An Act to provide for the cooperation between the Secretary of the Interior and the States with respect to the regulation of surface coal mining operations, and the acquisition and reclamation of abandoned mines, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	SMCRA
Enacted by	the 95th United States Congress
Effective	August 3, 1978
Citations
Public law	95-87
Statutes at Large	91 Stat. 445
Codification
Titles amended	30 U.S.C.: Mineral Lands and Mining
U.S.C. sections created	30 U.S.C. ch. 25 § 1201 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 2 by Mo Udall (D–AZ) on January 31, 1978 Committee consideration by House Interior and Insular Affairs, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Passed the Senate on May 20, 1978 (57-8, in lieu of S. 7) Reported by the joint conference committee on July 12, 1978; agreed to by the Senate on July 20, 1978 (85-8) and by the House on July 21, 1978 (325-68) Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on August 3, 1978

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1978 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States.

SMCRA created two programs: one for regulating active coal mines and a second for reclaiming abandoned mine lands. SMCRA also created the Office of Surface Mining, an agency within the Department of the Interior, to promulgate regulations, to fund state regulatory and reclamation efforts, and to ensure consistency among state regulatory programs.^[1]