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Funding boost speeds up rehabbing Iowa’s old coal mines
Projects to reclaim over 300 sites started 4 decades ago — and still is going
Nov. 24, 2024 5:00 am, Updated: Nov. 25, 2024 8:46 am
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DES MOINES — There are over 300 abandoned coal mine sites in Iowa, and the effort to clean up those sites covering more than 13,000 acres is four decades in the making — and still counting.
While many years of work lie ahead before the task is complete, state officials say, a recent boost of federal funding has allowed the state to accelerate its work.
Iowa’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Project has been operating since 1983. The program is funded by the federal government, through a U.S. Department of the Interior program that was created in 1977, and is funded by fees paid by present-day coal mining companies.
Out of those 300-plus sites in the state, 120 have been reclaimed, said Susan Kozak, director of the Division of Soil Conservation and Water Quality for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
Mike Naig, the Iowa agriculture secretary, said the state’s coal mine land reclamation projects improve water quality and soil health, and make the land productive again. He said the program is one piece of “a much larger effort to continually improve our water quality and to protect our valuable soil within Iowa.”
“Even as we are taking on more abandoned mine land projects, we’re also accelerating the construction of water quality wetlands, installing hundreds of bioreactors and saturated buffers with partners through our innovative batch and build model, setting records for cover crop usage, and working within cities to install proven urban water quality practices, and much more,” Naig said in a statement to The Gazette.
“There is undoubtedly much more work to do statewide, but we are building momentum, making progress, and we are always welcoming more partners and Iowans who are willing to say ‘yes’ to conservation,” Naig said.
How does the state clean up old coal mine sites?
Under the program, state officials identify abandoned coal mining sites, then work with landowners who wish for the land to be rehabilitated. That decision is up to the landowners, and some decline, Kozak said. If the landowners decide to participate, the reclamation project is fully funded by the federal government.
Once a reclamation project is set to proceed, the state conducts an assessment to determine if the work would disturb any endangered species or archaeological elements. Once clear of those questions, the state consults with an engineering firm. Once a plan is designed, construction begins.
The whole process can take roughly a year for each project, Kozak said. There are nine staffers in the division that manages mine land reclamation projects.
Materials that are cleared from coal mine sites often are hazardous. Kozak said she likes to tell the story of an intern who retrieved from a site a water sample that was so acidic that by the time she got back to the office her nail polish was gone.
The goal is to clear the land of any harmful materials or waste and restore the land so it no longer shows any visible signs of use. Because the land remains fragile even after reclamation, Kozak said, it likely cannot be farmed. But the projects are designed to help the land return to a state where grass and other vegetation can grow.
Kozak said some landowners plan pollinating plants, and sometimes livestock can graze on the land.
“We like to say that they’re pretty fragile after reclamation,” Kozak said. “Moving all of the piles around, there’s usually these big spoil piles, is what we call them. All the material that the mining company just dumped behind them as they were going for the coal, all of that is just sitting there and it’s been sitting there for over 50 years. It’s usually highly acidic so nothing grows on it, or very little grows on it. So they’re bare, spoil piles that kind of look like the moon. …
“So we figure out ways to balance that by moving it around and making it blend into the natural surroundings. We want somebody to be able to drive by these sites when they’re done and not even realize that we did a reclamation project or that it was a coal mine, that it just blends in with everything else.”
Kozak said another favorite experience is when she talked with a farmer whose baby cows, after a coal mine land reclamation project was completed on her land, began drinking again from a stream that they had refused to drink from for decades.
“She was probably in her 80s and she had never seen that before,” Kozak said. “She was just so excited that they were making a difference for the environment.”
Iowa’s abandoned mine land reclamation project has earned national recognition three times: in 2018, 2021 and 2023, a state agriculture department spokesman said.
How big and costly are these projects?
The scope of mine land reclamation projects varies significantly. Some are as small as a couple of acres, while others span more than 100 acres.
One project now under construction, Kozak said, covers 162 acres near Pella. The biggest project remaining on the state’s list covers 192 acres, also in Marion County.
A typical project is about 30 to 50 acres and costs roughly $500,000 to $800,000 to complete, Kozak said. Larger projects can cost well over $1 million; the project in Pella currently underway is projected to cost nearly $4 million, according to the state.
“It is very expensive to do this kind of work, so we really appreciate those federal funds from the Department of Interior,” Kozak said.
Those funds were boosted recently, Kozak said, by the 2021 federal infrastructure bill.
Kozak said that in a typical year, the program received $3 million in funding from the federal government. Since the 2021 infrastructure bill went into effect, that annual funding has tripled to $9 million, Kozak said.
Before that funding infusion, Kozak said the state typically would tackle two or three projects a year. With the federal funding boost, the state in October announced its plans to tackle seven projects.
“Now we have an increased budget, so it’s exciting,” Kozak said.
Iowa’s coal mining history
Coal mining began in Iowa as early as the 1840s and production peaked in the early 1900s, according to the state agriculture department. With advances in technology, coal mining shifted from underground mines to surface mines, Kozak said. Surface mining peaked between the 1930s and 50s, she said.
Iowa’s coal mines primarily were located in South Central and Southeast Iowa. Most were in Davis, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Van Buren and Wapello counties, according to the state agriculture department.
The last surface coal mine in Iowa close in 1994, Kozak said.
The 1977 federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act requires companies to remove hazards and stabilize coal mines once they are no longer used. That legislation paved the way for Iowa’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Project, which started in 1983, according to the state.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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