More than a billion dollars is coming to Illinois as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, with the goal of reclaiming and revitalizing abandoned mine land.
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced the allocation of $75 million towards the efforts Thursday. Illinois will receive that $75 million annually for the next 15 years.
Amanda Pankau is the director of energy and community resiliency at the Prairie Rivers Network. She says Illinois has a long history of coal mining, after all, two thirds of the state is over coal.
“Illinois was mining coal for close to 200 years before we had any laws that govern the cleanup of those sites,” Pankau said. “That law finally passed in 1977, with the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act.”
That law created a tax on coal to create a fund for revitalization and cleanup programs. But, Pankau says it has never been enough to address the issue nationwide. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill allocated a fresh $11.3 billion to the national effort.
This means more reclamation programs in the 76 out of 102 total Illinois counties home, at one time, to mining operations.
“”What reclamation means is that we’re coming in and we’re filling in, or closing the dangerous underground shafts and portals,” Pankau said. “Or we’re regrading a site and bringing in topsoil and putting it over old soil that was left behind.”
Abandoned mine shafts present various issues for the general public. They can leave behind steep cliffs, collapsing ground, treacherous openings and leach pollution into water supplies.
However, after reclamation projects, the potential uses for abandoned mine land are wide and varied.
“Everything from residential use, recreational uses, solar developments, industrial commercial uses, you name it,” Pankau said. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has just really increased the opportunity to bring these lands back to productive uses, especially at a time when coal communities are facing modern closures of mines and job losses.”
The influx of funding also means the type of sites getting reclaimed can expand. Pankau says areas that aren’t immediate risks to health and safety, known as “priority three” sites, will become eligible under the additional funding.
“I just want to encourage folks to, if you live in an area where historic coal mining occurred, talk to your community leaders, talk to your neighbors and get the word out about this funding,” Pankau said. “We know there are a lot of uninventoried, undocumented, abandoned mines across Illinois, and we all need to work together to get the word out.”
