Oklahoma will get $2.8 million from the federal government this year to reclaim abandoned coal mines, but the program may not last much longer.
Grants from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement are funded by a fee on coal producers. The Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fund is currently authorized by Congress only until 2021.
"It will eliminate the collection of fees, and from that point on, then, it would just be a matter of how long those fees could last afterward," said Robert Toole, who oversees the abandoned mine land program for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission.
Abandoned coal mines span 16 counties in eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa.
"Surface mines occur really kind of north of I-40 for the most part ... , and we have our underground mines down primarily south of I-40," Toole said. "The further south and southeast you get, the more underground mines we have and the fewer surface mines we have."
Toole said making abandoned mines safe is important work as developers eye land around them. The conservation commission has $122 million in work to do on mines posing an immediate threat to health and safety.
The federal grant is also a shot in the arm to local economies.
"For every $1 million in grant money that's expended, it benefits 40 jobs in the area of construction, equipment, services and labor," Toole said.
Though OCC has a vast inventory of abandoned mines, more are found constantly.
