Context: The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States.\n\nQuestion: when was the surface mining control and reclamation act written?
Let's think step by step below.
1977
The relevant sentence in the passage is: The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) is the primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States.

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Therefore, the answer is 1977