Illinois awarded more than $75 million to for mine land cleanup

Illinois is receiving more than $75 million dollars from the federal government to remediate abandoned mine lands across the state this year.

The renewed investment, announced earlier this month, is coming the second installment coming to state through the Biden administration-led Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill is funneling billions to states and local governments to upgrade outdated roads, bridges, transit systems and more.

The federal bill also had roughly $16 billion allocated to address legacy pollution cleanup efforts — including $11 billion for mine land reclamation projects, according to Steve Feldgus, the Department of Interior’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management.

“That money can be spent on any currently inventoried problem,” Feldgus said, including emergency problems like sinkholes popping up as a result of old mine lands. “It takes quite a bit of funding to address those. So, that’s where a lot of this money is going to be going to address those issues that pop up unexpectedly.”

Illinois used to the funding north of $75 million to address issues across the state last year, including 6 mine-related projects in St. Clair County. One project sought to close off a mine opening in Mascoutah and another corrected vertical openings along a mine path in Trenton.

Illinois’ mine land reclamation programis designed to address serious problems at mines that were abandoned prior to August 1977, as a requirement of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act —  many of them in towns that were economically crippled. Feldgus said the additional funding is part of the government’s attempt at helping make those communities whole.

“Well, one of the issues is, these are all mine sites that date back more than 45 years… so there are no companies left that have the responsibility to fix these problems,” he said. “This funding goes a long way to helping those communities, in many cases, get back on their feet to address problems that have been polluting their watersheds or posing safety hazards for decades, if not generations.”

Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Amanda Pankau, the director of energy and community resiliency at the Champaign-based advocacy group Prairie Rivers Network, said Illinois has a long history of coal mining and this support helps move towards sustainable solutions.

“We have the opportunity to clean up most of the abandoned mine lands in Illinois,” she said. “That’s just really exciting to think this is really a once in a generation opportunity to fix this pollution of the past and give landowners and communities back productive land for new economic opportunity.”

Remediation can include land grading, neutralizing acidic water in mines, or removing long-standing waste piles. After the reclamation process, the potential uses for abandoned mine land can be wide and varied.

“We have quite a few former abandoned coal mine sites that have been turned into ATV parks or office parks,” Feldgus said. “So by cleaning these sites up, we not only fix the immediate problem that the communities are facing with the polluted water or the health and safety hazards, but we’re also giving them an opportunity to use that land again.”

The influx of funding also means the type of sites getting reclaimed can expand. Pankau said areas that aren’t immediate risks to health and safety, known as “priority three” sites, will also become eligible with 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.”

WCBU’s Collin Schopp contributed to this report.