On October 7, 1980, then Secretary of the Interior Cecil D.
Andrus fully approved Louisiana's surface mining regulatory
program. The Louisiana Surface Mining and Reclamation Act, which
had already been approved by the Louisiana legislature in 1978,
became effective on that date, and named the Louisiana Department
of Natural Resources, Office of Conservation, as the state agency
whose responsibility it was to regulate the mining of coal and
lignite in Louisiana. Statewide Order 29-O-1, the Louisiana
Surface Mining Regulations became effective shortly thereafter.
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