Jan. 11--FARMINGTON -- Hopes are high at U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman's, D-NM, office that the administration turnover will enable a change in a policy mandating how New Mexico can use abandoned mine reclamation funds.

The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 originally collected money from coal producing states to return to the states so they could pay for the clean-up and reclamation of abandoned mining sites.

But because of the way Department of the Interior staffers interpreted the language of a 2006 bill reauthorizing the funds, the money only can be used for the cleanup and restoration of abandoned coal mines.

"My gut tells me that the Department of the Interior took (artful) drafting language from Congress and put into it meaning," said Bill Brancard, the state's Mining and Minerals Division director.

The division is part of the state's Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

The state was awarded $3.8 million this year from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to restore abandoned mine lands. Brancard is working with Bingaman to free the funding so his department can use it to pay for the cleanup and restoration of abandoned non-coal mines.

Old and abandoned uranium mines dot the Navajo Nation in San Juan and McKinley counties. Those mines pose a much larger threat to people, livestock and the environment.

Bingaman, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, last year introduced Senate

Bill 2779, which amends the 1977 act. Members of the Senate's Energy Subcommittee approved it, but it made no further progress.

"The change in Congress and the administration mandates it must be reintroduced," said Bingaman spokesman Jude McCartin. "We hope the new administration will consider it as an administrative matter."

Bingaman wrote Dirk Kempthorne, the department's outgoing secretary, in June 2007, to express his dismay about the new interpretation.

"We believe this is in error," his letter stated. "This interpretation is inconsistent with assurances repeatedly given to us by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement during the consideration of the legislation that non-coal work would continue to be undertaken with these AML (abandoned mine land) funds."

McCartin said the senator didn't expect Kempthorne to change his mind, however.

The state's current fiscal year funding totals $3.8 million, but only $800,000 of the amount applies to non-coal sites.

A total of 259 abandoned mines exist in San Juan, McKinley and Cibola counties, Brancard said. About 137 have had no reclamation, and work on 122 others may be incomplete.

"The problems in the West are with uranium and other hard rock mining sites," Brancard said. "We remain disappointed that the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement restricts our ability to use the funds."

The state's Abandoned Mine Land Program has record of at least 15,000 unreclaimed mine hazards scattered throughout the state. More than 4,000 dangerous open mines were closed during the past 21 years.

The AML has record of at least five mine-related deaths since 1990. Numerous abandoned mine-related injuries and costly rescues also were recorded.

Mining in New Mexico dates from American Indian ventures to find turquoise, lead and copper. Its history also includes Spanish mining beginning in the 1500s and the mining booms of the 19th century.

"Today, New Mexico is home to some of the largest active coal and hardrock mining facilities in the United States," Brancard said in a briefing to the Congress last March.

Cornelia de Bruin: cdebruin@daily-times.com

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