In Illinois, coal company bankruptcies and water quality problems are preventing the proper reclamation of thousands of acres of coal mine lands. When mines are neither producing coal nor being reclaimed, they are considered “zombie mines,” and they put nearby communities at risk – not only from a human health standpoint but they also damage their economies.
New measures need to be put in place to protect these coal communities from the pollution and economic turmoil caused by these zombie mines, but the burden should not be put on community members. Coal companies should be held accountable to properly clean up (a process called reclamation) these mines so they can once again be used by the people and wildlife that live on and around them.
Three new bills aim to make sure coal companies do just that, both in a timely manner and requiring adequate financial guarantees, so the responsibilities and cost do not fall on the taxpayers or leave the communities with the dangerous and toxic mess of an unreclaimed mine.
Rep. Matt Cartwright’s two bills – the Coal Cleanup Taxpayer Protection Act (H.R. 7940) and the Bond Improvement and Reclamation Assurance Act (H.R. 7941) — outlaw certain bonding practices that have created countless zombie mines and tighten regulations to ensure coal companies will have enough money for reclamation. Rep. Don Beyer’s Stream Protection and Vegetation Restoration Act (H.R. 8062) sets clear deadlines for how quickly parts of a mine must be cleaned up after the coal is removed.
