Increase the number of acres reclaimed (FY 05 target of 40,000 additional acres reclaimed).. Increase the number of new cooperative Acid Mine Drainage Projects under the Clean 01.02 The Office of Surface Mining will provide funding for 28 new cooperative Acid Mine Drainage Projects under the Clean Streams Program. 1/ Includes priority 1,2, and 3 problems for pre-SMCRA grant programs, coal interim sites, coal insolvent sites and acid mine drainage 2/ The accomplishments reported by the States and Tribes for FY 1999 included more than one fiscal year. OSM's calculated estimate for FY1999 actual it 7,400 acres FY 2000 FY 2002 planned results uses 7,400 acres as the baseline for the number of acres for which reclamation is initiated. Actual project completion may occur one to three years after funding. 3/ The accomplishments reported by the States and Tribes for FY 2000 Included more than one fiscal year OSM's calculated estimate for FY 2000 actual le 8,100 acres. FY 2000 FY 2002 planned results uses 7,400 acres as the baseline for the number of acres for which reclamation is initiated. Actual project completion may occur one to three years after funding 4/ The FY 2001 planned target was revised from 9,100 acres to reflect the factors indicated in footnotes 2 and 3. 5/ The FY 2001 FY 2003 planned target were revised based on four years of data rather than just 1997 and 1998. The more recent data shows that the projects being funded are larger than initially anticipated reducing resources available for a higher number of projects to be indicated during the year Athough the number of projects initiated may be less, this does not automatically mean that less environmental restoration will occur as the size of the projects are larger than initially projected In addition to the annual performance measures for environmental restoration, OSM tracks other workload and performance statistics that are used to monitor program performance. The following table shows an additional fourteen workload and performance statistics. Annual Goals Description The Environmental Restoration Mission Goal addresses the enhancement of public health, safety, and general welfare by correcting problems caused by past mining. It is difficult to fully show annual progress in achieving the Environmental Restoration Goal. OSM has chosen two annual performance measures supported by 14 workload and performance statistics to indicate annual progress. As OSM gains more experience and receives feedback on our annual performance reporting, performance measures may be revised or added. Annual Performance Measure 01.01, the number of acres reclaimed annually, gives the primary perspective of what is being accomplished and what remains to be done. OSM has identified over 560,000 acres of priority 1, 2, and 3 coal-related health and safety problems such as underground fires, subsidence, highwalls, landslides, open shafts, and polluted water. The total magnitude of the problem, which is found nationwide, is unknown. What we know is that the costs to reclaim known problems far exceed the resources of the AML Program. What is important to the public is that the AML Program address these problems as quickly as possible so that we can all live in a safer and cleaner environment. The AML Program has reclaimed approximately 142,000 acres of coal-related problems to date. At the FY 2000 target rate of 8,100 acres, it will take over 50 years to reclaim the remaining 418,000 acres of currently known unreclaimed priority 1, 2, and 3 coal related problems. Annual Performance Measure 01.02, the number of new cooperative Acid Mine Projects under the Clean Streams Program, focuses on a small, but important and highly visible component of the AML program. This measure gives an indication of non-AML Program staff who are directly involved in reclamation activities. Increasing numbers of projects indicate more support and involvement of the public in reclamation activities. The Clean Streams Program is unique in that it enables joint Federal, State, and public effort on a small scale to do the same type of reclamation activities that the Federal and State AML Programs undertake on a larger scale. While reducing Federal costs, it also enables the public to understand the problems encountered during reclamation; but more importantly, it provides opportunities to a wide spectrum of individuals to share innovations and successful approaches to reclamation. Since the Clean Streams Program currently amounts to less than five percent of the funding for the Restoration Goal, not meeting the target for new projects each year will not have a major negative effect on the long-term goal of restoring AML problems. However, if in the future this initiative brings in substantial additional non-AML Fund resources, it has the potential of having a major positive effect on addressing AML problems. 01.02 The Office of Surface Mining will provide funding for 35 new cooperative Acid Mine 37 2 Total The baseline data for both measures are limited, but both give an indication of positive trends in achieving a safer and cleaner environment. While striving to make improvements, OSM will also consider revising the targets to better reflect program constrains and external factors. For example, the number of new projects is constrained by funding. New projects were larger than anticipated, therefore, reducing the number that would be undertaken. However, the ret environmental benefits and public participation may be as great as if a larger number of smaller projects had been undertaken. |