State plans to clean up abandoned coal mine lands

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources plans to clean up more than 63 acres of abandoned coal mine lands near Montrose in Henry County by March 11.

The DNR and the Missouri Land Reclamation Commission recently awarded a $735,615 construction contract to Hale Fencing and Bobcat Services LLC, of Henley, to perform the land reclamation.

The West Montrose Reclamation Project aims to eliminate public safety issues posed by the abandoned mine and improve water quality in the region, the DNR reported. The proposed project calls for backfilling a dangerous highwall located adjacent to County Road SW 700. State crews will grade and re-vegetate nearly 63 acres of embankments and spoil piles to prevent acid-forming materials from entering nearby streams.

The reclamation site, which is located on private property about one mile northwest of Montrose, poses a safety hazard to the landowner and area residents that frequently travel on the route.

According to a memo from environmental specialist Larry Teson, the project is part of the DNR’s ongoing efforts to preserve the region where Peabody Coal Company strip-mined more than 2,400 acres between the mid-1950s and the late 1980s. In 1987, nearly 700 acres of abandoned mine lands were partially graded, limed and revegetated in the first phase of the project.

Funding for the project comes from a surcharge on each ton of coal mined in the United States, as authorized by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. The U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining collects and distributes the funds to state and tribal abandoned mine land programs.