states with approved reclamation programs for their projects, and the remaining monies are used by the federal government through the OSMRE to reclaim abandoned mines in states without active programs. As of December 15, 2011, OSMRE has provided more than $7.2 billion to reclaim more than 295,000 acres of hazardous high-priority abandoned mine sites and for other purposes of abandoned mine lands have been reclaimed through the OSMRE fund since 1977. Germany In view of the end of coal mining in Germany in 2018, the Research Institute of Post-Mining (FZN) was set up at the Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola (THGA) in Bochum in 2015. It is the very first institute of its kind in the world, which takes a holistic view of the consequences of mining, and pools the know-how required, in order to shape the post-mining period from a technical, economic and environmental perspective. Here, the focus is placed on the scientific accompaniment of the so-called eternity tasks of coal-mining in the areas of the Ruhr, the Saar as well as in Ibbenbüren, where mining, geology, geotechnical engineering, hydrogeology, electrical and information technology experts as well as mining surveyors work together across the different disciplines. The Research Institute of Post-Mining develops monitoring processes both at the pithead and below ground and prepares the scientific principles for a sustainable pit water concept. In this respect, the institute works closely with mining and old companies, as well as authorities, water boards and regional authorities, industrial firms and universities. It also runs its own knowledge management project, which is intended to make mining and post-mining know-how available in a database. Every two years the Research Institute of Post-Mining, together with the Arnsberg local council, organise the “NACHBergbauzeit in NRW” conference (POST-mining era in NRW). Within the Research Institute of Post-Mining, the THGA also currently offers the world's only Master's degree course in Geotechnical Engineering and Post-Mining, which combines science and engineering, and encompasses rock mechanics, economic geology as well as hydrology, surveying and legal issues. See also Clean Water Act Environmental remediation Holistic management Land rehabilitation Mine closure planning Office of Surface Mining Permaculture Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 References External links Mineral Information Institute (reclamation stories) Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation (US Dept. of the Interior) American Society of Mining & Reclamation Appalachian Coal Country Team Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative Interim Inventory and Assessment of Abandoned Mineral Lands in