Surface Coal Mining Activities Enhanced Coordination Procedures

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This page provides updates and background information regarding Clean Water Act Section 404 and Mining Activities and Permits subject to the Enhanced Coordination Procedures under the June 11, 2009 Memorandum of Agreement.

Enhanced Coordination Procedures (ECP)

According to the June 11, 2009 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) EPA and the Corps will begin immediately to implement enhanced coordination procedures applicable to the Clean Water Act review of Section 404 permit applications for Appalachian surface coal mining activities that have been submitted prior to execution of this MOU. The goal of these procedures is to ensure more timely, consistent, transparent, and environmentally effective review of permit applications under existing law and regulations.

• The Surface Coal Mining ECP project list contains updated information on individual projects (www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/guidance/mining-projects.html)

• September 30, 2009 Letter from EPA Assistant Administrator Peter Silva to Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Jo-Ellen Darcy transmitting final ECP list (PDF) (6 pp, 1.6MB)
• Final List of Surface Coal Mining Applications for Enhanced Coordination (3pp, 13KB)
• Questions and Answers about the final list (8 pp, 43KB)
• Detailed information on all proposed surface mines PDF Format (40 pp, 114KB) | MS Excel Format (206KB)
• EPA Releases Preliminary Results for Surface Coal Mining Permit Reviews - News Release, September 11, 2009
• EPA's initial list (PDF) (2 pp, 11KB) of permit applications and recommendations, announced on September 11, 2009. (www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/pdf/ECP_Initial_List_09-11-09.pdf)
• Factsheet on the Initial List Resulting from Enhanced Coordination Procedures (2 pp, 21KB)

Multi-criteria Integrated Resource Assessment (MIRA)

MIRA is a tool that EPA has developed to assist program managers’ consideration of a broad array of scientific and technical information in their program and policy decisions. MIRA assists program managers by organizing and comparing pieces of relevant project data and information. It allows decision makers to compare different decision options based upon one or more common criteria and become more informed regarding the various criteria and how those criteria can be considered. With respect to Appalachian surface coal mining, MIRA was used to process an extensive set of technical data and generate summary information to facilitate program management decisions. In this case, the MIRA approach promoted consistency by allowing decision makers from three EPA regions to review, discuss and reach consistency and consensus using a common set of data for discussion and analysis.

• General Information on MIRA (PDF) (2 pp, 51KB)
• MIRA Relationships to Environmental Statutes and Regulations (PDF) (9 pp, 33KB)
• MIRA Indicators and Hierarchy (PDF) (6 pp, 26KB)
• Definitions of MIRA Indicators (PDF) (11 pp, 61KB)
• MIRA ORganization and Explanation of Preference Sets (PDF) (2 pp, 11KB)
• Preference Sets for MIRA (PDF) (10 pp, 36KB)
• MIRA Environmental Concerns Matrix (PDF) (6 pp, 25KB)
• MIRA Questions and Answers (PDF) (2 pp, 12KB)
• More information on MIRA, EPA Region 3