—Thomas Galya, US DOI—Office of Surface Mining
The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) has formed and funds a Geospatial Data Standards ASTM Task Group of state, federal, industry, and environmental segments of the coal mining community. The group has developed four voluntary, national coal mining geospatial standards, relative to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). Two post-SMCRA standards have been approved by the ASTM, which address post-SMCRA surface coal mining (D7384-07) and underground coal mining (D7443- 08). Two pre-SMCRA standards have also been approved by the ASTM, which address Problem Area (D7533-09) and Planning Unit (D7534-09). These standards will help ensure compatibility of coal mining geospatial data among various SMCRA programs, increase public safety through awareness of active and historical coal mine site features, and public outreach that contributes to creating a national dataset describing coal mining in the United States.