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Nomination of James R. Harris To Be Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

March 03, 1981

The President today announced his intention to nominate James R. Harris to be Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Department of the Interior.

In 1980 Mr. Harris was reelected to a second term in the Indiana State Senate. He served on and chaired the Senate Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Agriculture. He also served as ranking majority member of the Senate Standing Committee on Elections and Apportionment and as a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance.

He served as chairman of a 2-year Interim Study Committee on Surface Mining, charged with the responsibility for drafting surface mining legislation to bring Indiana into compliance with the 1977 Federal Surface Mining Act. From 1978 to 1979, Mr. Harris chaired the Natural Resources Advisory Committee, a statutory legislative oversight committee for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

A certified professional geologist and former surface mine superintendent, Mr. Harris serves as Indiana's legislative representative to a 10-State interstate task force on more successful utilization of high sulphur coal.

Mr. Harris served in the Indiana House of Representatives in 1973-74. He was president and co-owner, Elberfeld Telephone Co., Inc., in 1969-74. In 1967-68 he was superintendent of the J.R. Coal Co. in Warrick County, Ind. Mr. Harris was a consulting geologist with the firm of Norrick & Harris in 1957-68.

He was graduated from the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School (1955) and served on board the U.S.S. Rehoboth. He was also a student at Indiana University (A.B., 1951) and Evansville College (1947-49).

Mr. Harris is married and has four children. He resides with his family in Evansville, Ind. He is 51 years old.

Ronald Reagan, Nomination of James R. Harris To Be Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/246939

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