Lexington Field Office

 

The Lexington Field Office (LFO) is the OSM office responsible for coordinating between OSM and State Regulatory Authorities, citizens, the coal industry and environmental concerns in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  State coal regulatory and abandoned mine land programs are monitored to ensure that surface coal mining operations and the surface effects of underground coal mining and the reclamation of abandoned mine lands are conducted in an environmentally sound manner.

The Field Office Director (FOD) is responsible for all activities of the field office.  LFO consists of the Director’s Office and two branches (Program Support and Field Support).  In addition, LFO has three Area Offices located in London, Madisonville and Pikeville, Kentucky.

LFO is responsible for gathering data about coal mining and reclamation operations in each of the states, assisting Kentucky in improving inspection and enforcement activities and recommending actions needed to address program deficiencies. The accomplishment of these tasks will assist Kentucky in the implementation of programs and ensure proper reclamation of the land.

Additional field office responsibilities include:

• Reviewing and analyzing proposed state program amendments and monitoring and evaluating Kentucky regulatory programs, cooperative agreements and abandoned mine land (AML) reclamation programs.
• Assisting in resolving identified program issues.
• Developing an annual performance agreement with Kentucky that defines the oversight and assistance activities for the current evaluation year.
• Soliciting stakeholder comments concerning oversight.
• Conducting performance reviews in accordance with the negotiated performance agreement
• Inspecting mines in accordance with existing OSM policy, citizen concerns or concerns from routine program and document review.
• Providing technical assistance or access to technical assistance on issues relating to mine permitting, compliance monitoring, mitigation, AML issues or reclamation decisions.
• Reviewing grant documents and assuring programmatic compliance with all grant conditions.
• Assisting Kentucky in aggressively pursuing reclamation of the most serious and high priority non-emergency AML sites.
• Participating in technical forums, meetings, and conferences to maintain technical expertise and stay abreast of developments in mining and reclamation technology.