WASHINGTON, DC – The Federal Bureau that oversees the regulation of coal mining and restoration of abandoned mine lands is honoring an Indiana environmental agency with an award for abandoned mine reclamation.

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) will honor the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Division of Reclamation, Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program during a national gathering of mine land reclamation professionals.

The Indiana DNR won the Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Mid-Continent Region Award for reclamation work at the Snow Hill Abandoned Mine Land Site 882 in Vigo County.

The Snow Hill Abandoned Mine Land project addressed public safety concerns and environmental damage caused by two large, coarse, coal refuse piles, with a total area of 40 acres on each side of North Coal Creek in Vigo County.

Acid mine drainage and eroding coal refuse from the two refuse piles clogged the North Coal Creek channel and substantially degraded its water quality. In addition, the steep, eroding coal refuse on either side of the creek was unstable and posed a danger to the public.

The Division of Reclamation took the following actions to make the area safe:

• Placed impermeable liners and subsurface drainage structures on the tops of the two refuse piles and covered them with three feet of fill
• Constructed a three-stage aerobic wetland and settling pond complex downstream of the refuse piles to encourage oxidation of dissolved iron and remove suspended iron oxides from the water column
• Regraded and stabilized coal refuse embankments

 

The Indiana DNR, Division of Reclamation, Abandoned Mine Land Program oversaw the project design completed by ATC Group Services, LLC of Indianapolis and project construction activities completed by general contractor Kerns Excavating , LLC of Bruceville, Indiana. In FY 2018, Indiana received $8.1 million in AML funding from OSMRE. Indiana is among five recipients of the 2018 Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Awards given for reclamation excellence. Awards are presented for the best reclamation project nationally, as well as the best project in each of OSMRE’s three regions and for the project that costs less than $1 million and is in a state that receives less than $6 million in AML funds.

A panel of judges composed of directors of state and tribal reclamation programs and OSMRE managers voted to determine this year’s awardees.

The DNR Division of Reclamation administers the surface coal mining laws for the State of Indiana.