On Monday the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM) released new guidance regarding its oversight of state mining regulatory programs. Specifically, the guidance addresses the use of the federal Ten Day Notice process and its appropriate application to permitting issues. The new guidance reverses previous determinations from OSM and the Department of the Interior regarding oversight of permitting decisions made by state regulatory authorities and could potentially complicate the primacy structure and relationship of these programs to the federal mining authority under OSM. For a copy of the new guidance and more detailed memo describing the new actions contact jbostic@wvcoal.com