Ever since the first bill was introduced in 1940, attention has focused on the need to devise legislation that adequately addressed the environmental problems associated with strip mining for coal. With final approval of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977,¹ Congress and the Administration share the belief that the 37-year legislative effort to adopt a comprehensive program governing coal surface mine operations is now complete.² Previous bills were viewed simply as environmental protection measures, butthis legislation is intended to be the product of congressional recognition of the need to encourage industry to meet the increased coal production called for in the National Energy Plan.³ The reality, however, is a compromise law that contains several loopholes in its environmental protection provisions but still leaves industry dissatisfied and suspicious that numerous statutory ambiguities make protracted citizen-initiated litigation inevitable.