Surface-mined coal comprises over 50 percent of the nation's annual coal production, and strip mining operations affect hundreds of thousands of acres in more than half of the states.¹ Two years after enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA),² substantial progress is finally being made toward establishment of a strong national program for controlling the environmentally detrimental aspects of surface mining. During this period, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), an agency within the Department of the Interior created to administer the Act,³ has been buffeted by funding delays, backstage political pressures,⁴ and incessant court battles with industry, the coal production states, and environmentalists. Indeed, serious challenges to OSM's authority continue to be raised on Capitol Hill. Recently, however, indications are that the beleaguered program is rebounding from these attacks. Although the program continues to be plagued by questions such as the extent to which federal regulations should provide flexibility to account for individual state conditions, OSM should be able to stave off the efforts of a so-far undiscouraged conglomerate of coal states and coal companies seeking to sidetrack the national effort to curb the environmental injuries of unrestrained strip mining.