Laserfiche WebLink
<br />NAS scientists. This hearing is one of several the BLM is holding nationwide on the draft ElS. <br /> <br />The proposed rule is intended to prevent "unnecessary or undue degradation" of public land resources by <br />mining operations. The proposed rule and the draft EIS are accessible through the BLM's Internet Home <br />Page (www.blm.gov). <br /> <br />DMG ACTIVE IN OSM ACTIVITIES: During the week of Mar. 22 DMG Director Mike Long <br />participated in meetings with Office of Surface Mining (OSM) officials and representatives from other <br />states regarding reforestation and strategic planning. The meetings took place at a Reforestation <br />Conference in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The conference was specifically designed to discuss opportunities to use trees to reclaim abandoned mine <br />sites. This is particularly important in Appalachia. However, Colorado could also take advantage of tree <br />planting, and used to do so when the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation <br />Service) provided federal funding to the states. <br /> <br />The conference also allowed OSM officials and DMG Director Long to discuss a new strategic plan the <br />OSM is developing. Long pointed out that the planning effort provides the OSM with an opportunity to <br />reevaluate the effectiveness of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, the primary federal law <br />regulating coal mining, which hasn't undergone serious review since it was enacted in 1977. He also <br />asked federal officials to take a more active role in educating the public about the mining and its <br />importance. Finally, he reiterated the state's concerns about the adequacy of funding Colorado receives <br />to run its coal regulatory programs (only a fraction of the money collected from the federal tax on the <br />production of coal is returned to the states to use to reclaim abandoned mines and for other programs). <br /> <br />Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />THREE NEW MEMBERS APPOINTED: Governor Bill Owens has appointed Michael W. Klish, <br />Daniel Skrabacz, and Abe Phillips to the COGCc. . <br /> <br />Michael Klish, an Unaffiliated, is from Grand Junction and will serve as a member from the Third <br />Congressional District. He is an environmental scientist for West Water Engineering specializing in <br />environmental research, restoration and reclamation. Heis member of the Society of Wetland Scientist <br />and served as a representative for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on numerous oil and gas drilling <br />projects. Klish received his bachelor's degree in forestry and his master's degree in plant ecology from <br />Colorado State University. <br /> <br />Daniel Skrabacz, an Unaffiliated, is from Denver and will serve as a member from the First <br />Congressional District. He is a consulting engineer for Pollard, Gore, and Harrison, a petroleum- <br />engineering finn, and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He previously served as vice <br />president and senior petroleum engineer for NationsBank Energy Finance Division in Denver from 1984 <br />to 1998. Skrabacz has his bachelor's in natural gas engineering from Texas A & I University. <br /> <br />Abe Phillips, a Republican, if from Evergreen and will serve as an at-large member. Phillips, a geologist, <br />formerly served as president of Coors Energy Company from 1980 to 1992 in Denver. Phillips is a <br />member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist and Land Committee chair for the <br />Independent Petroleum Association Mountain States. He has his bachelor's degree in geology from the <br />University of Oklahoma. <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />. <br />