Until 1977 coal mining was an unregulated industry in Indiana. This left unnumbered public and private properties unsafe for future use.
Surface mining left deep pits with steep sides that can collect water, and the way it was mined made a natural recovery impossible.
Currently, there are nearly 2,000 abandoned, former coal mining sites from prior to 1977 that the State of Indiana knows about.
“There are a number of safety, health … and environmental issues that were left behind,” said Kit Turpin, director of the abandoned mines reclamation project in Indiana. He’s referring to surface coal mines which were abandoned, and not remediated after their use. Remediation is now required by state law.
"Reclamation" is the process of minimizing negative safety, health and environmental effects of unregulated legacy mines.
Turpin’s organization, through federal grants, helps restore land with abandoned coal mines.
“There are a lot of people that have been kind of disadvantaged by the way that their land was mined,” Turpin said. “So once a piece of ground is sort of turned upside down like that, there's no going back.”
The Indiana DNR recently announced it received $25 million for mining site reclamation projects in 2023 to assist these public and private landowners in restoring their land to a more natural state.
Indiana will receive $377 million over the next 15 years to restore former mining sites to pre-mining status.
“So we tried to return to the ridge and valley systems that were in those areas before,” Turpin said. “For the most part, we're returning to a fish-and-wildlife or forest property.”
He said they recently completed a project at Lynnville Park in Warrick County.
Hoosiers who own former mining properties shuttered and abandoned prior to 1977 are encouraged to report the site to the DNR to possibly get on the list for funding.
The more sites on the list, the more funding the state receives. The DNR can be emailed at abandonedminesrestoration@DNR.IN.gov.
If their site is approved for reclamation, a DNR Division of Reclamation’s Abandoned Mine Land program manager will help determine the impact of the mining project, and begin drafting a design for the project.
Click this link to see a map of underground and surface mine locations.
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