The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is a branch of the United States Department of the Interior.

For example, when in the fiscal year of 2003 Missouri was unable to meet the federal requirements due to a lack of funding, OSMRE stepped in to assume partial control of the state program.

[10] Environmental problems associated with abandoned mine lands include surface and ground water pollution, entrances to open mines, water-filled pits, unreclaimed or inadequately reclaimed refuse piles and minesites (including some with dangerous highwalls), sediment-clogged streams, damage from landslides, and fumes and surface instability resulting from mine fires and burning coal refuse.

Environmental restoration activities under the abandoned mine reclamation program correct or mitigate these problems.

The Coal Country Team arms community organizations and watershed-based projects with the training, tools, and volunteer support necessary to help local citizens become effective environmental stewards, community leaders, and accelerators of change in places indelibly marked by the environmental legacy of pre-regulatory coal mining.