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• CITIZENS COAL COUNCIL, ET AL.
<br />IBLA 94-366 Decided December 15, 1997
<br />Appeal fran Decisions of the Acting Director, Office of Surface Mining
<br />Reclamation and Enforcement, finding that a railroad and a pipeline, used
<br />to transport coal from surface mines, are not regulated by the Federal
<br />surface coal mining act. 94-16-Johnson/Bird.
<br />Affirmed.
<br />Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977:
<br />Applicability: Generally
<br />The OSM properly concluded that a railroad and a
<br />pipeline, used solely to transport coal from surface
<br />mines to remote electrical generating stations, are not
<br />"surface coal mining operations," within the meaning of
<br />section 701(28)(B) of the Surface Mining Control and
<br />Reclamation Act of 1977, 30 U.S.C. ~ 1291(28)(B)
<br />(1994), and are therefore not subject to the
<br />requirements of that Act.
<br />APPEARANCES: Walton D. Morris, Jr., Esq., Charlottesville, Virginia, for
<br />Appellants; James R. Bird, Esq., and Benjamin J. Vernia, Esq., Washington,
<br />DC, for the Peabody Western Coal Company; Jack D. Palma, II, P.C., Esq.,
<br />• Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Donald B. Atkins, Esq., Tulsa, Oklahana, for Black
<br />Mesa Pipeline, Inc.; John B. Weldon, Jr., Esq., and Stephen E. Crofton,
<br />Esq., Phoenix, Arizona, for the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement
<br />and Power District; Jon K. Johnson, Esq., Office of the Regional Solicitor,
<br />U.S. Department of the Interior, Lakewood, Colorado, for the Office of
<br />Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.
<br />OPINION BY ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE KELLY
<br />The Citizens Coal Council, the Water Information Network, and the
<br />Dineh-Hopi Alliance (collectively, Appellants) have appealed from two
<br />identical Decisions of the Acting Director, Office of Surface Mining
<br />Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), dated February 25, 1994. Responding to
<br />Appellants' citizens conq~laints, OSM found that two transportation
<br />facilities associated with the Black Mesa/Kayenta Mines are not "surface
<br />coal mining operations" governed by the Surface Mining Control and
<br />Reclamation
<br />142 IBLA 33
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