SW Iowa Times

The state of Iowa has an estimated 300 abandoned mines that not only present an eyesore but, as an open festering pit or hole, a danger to anyone who comes near them. 

The state using federal money is in the process of sealing these mining sites and restoring them to their original condition.

According to Wikipedia, the 1977 passage of the Surface Mining and Control Reclamation Act provides funding to repair and restore abandoned mines that are deemed public safety, health and environmental hazards. The law created two programs, one for regulating working coal mines, the other for restoring abandoned mine sites.

“In Davis County, I visited the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Project (AML) to learn how the Iowa Dept. of Agriculture is working to rehabilitate mines so producers can safely graze their livestock,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said in a tweet.

There are over 13,000 acres of abandoned coal mines in Iowa, most of them in the southeastern part of the state, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship. Some of them have eroded into open holes a person or livestock can tumble into if unwary.

The department's website reports that such sites often have dangerous piles of rubble and steep embankments, sheer walls, acidic soils that pollute groundwater supplies and pit ponds of polluted surface water.

As of June 30, 2018, Iowa had completed nearly half of planned reclamation projects to seal up and resurface such sites at a cost of $48,687,033. Still in the process of completion is another $57.4 million in repairs, according to the website. 

Some of the funding is coming from grants, the Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program run by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and in-kind donations.

The Surface Mining and Control Reclamation Act allows for the collection of a fee for each ton of coal produced, according to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. The Abandoned Mine Land Fund Program has collected $11.7 billion for reclamation projects nationally and $2.2 billion of the fund remains unappropriated.