Research and Activity Summary
Abandoned mine lands (AML) are areas that were mined for coal prior to the federal mine reclamation law (the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, or SMCRA, was signed into law in 1977) and were not adequately reclaimed. AML present hazards to health and safety, and the environment. SMCRA established a tax on active coal-mining operations for the purpose of raising funds to support reclamation of AML. The federal AML reclamation funds allocated to Virginia are inadequate to reclaim Virginia's abandoned mine areas; approximately 50,000 acres of abandoned mine lands remain unreclaimed in Virginia today.
The most cost-effective time to reclaim AML is often the time when an active mining operation is in the area, as operating equipment and excess spoil can be made available. Once an area has been mined without fully reclaiming AML, the chances that such an area will ever by reclaimed declines significantly.
Powell River Project research has addressed policies to encourage reclamation of abandoned mine lands (AML) by active mining operations. Active cooperation among Powell River Project, Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, U.S. Office of Surface Mining, and the Virginia coal industry has resulted in a more favorable climate for AML reclamation by active mining operations in Virginia today, and a number of AML areas have been reclaimed successfully.
Despite this progress, current laws and regulations still discourage active mining operatations to avoid permitting those AML areas that present the worst environmental problems, due to potential liabilities.
Powell River Project's video,
"How Long to Heal the Land," is a general introduction to AML-reclamation-through-remining
issues. Virginia's AML reclamation initiative is described by Zipper and Lambert,
1988. Current policies, and potential policy changes, are described by Santopietro
and Zipper, 1996. A case study that demonstrates limitations and problems
with current policies is described by Zipper, Younos, and Yagow, 1992.
Publications:
Zipper, C., B. Lambert, J. Burger and W. Daniels. Linking
research and regulatory policy to enable advances in reclamation practice.
p. 866-878, in In: Proceedings, 2002 National Meeting of the
American Society for Mine Reclamation. Lexington, Kentucky.
Zipper, C.E., and B. Lambert. 1998. Remining to Reclaim Abandoned Mined Lands: Virginia's Initiative. p. 530-539, in: Proceedings, 1998 National Meeting of the American Society for Surface Mining and Reclamation.
Santopietro, George, and C.E. Zipper. 1996. Incentives to encourage re-mining and reclamation of abandoned mined lands in Appalachia : Policy options. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 51:8-15.
Zipper. C.E., and C.B. Slemp. 1994. How long to heal the land: Abandoned mines in Appalachia. 17 minute video presentation. Virginia Cooperative Extension 460-137.
Zipper. C.E., and C.B. Slemp. 1994. "How Long to heal the land: Abandoned mines in Appalachia" public awareness video. Proceedings of the Association for Abandoned Mined Lands 16th Annual Conference, p. 293-295.
Younos, T.M., E.R. Yagow, C.E. Zipper, and P. Diplas. 1993. Modeling mined land reclamation strategies in a GIS environment. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 9:61-68.
Zipper, C.E. 1993. Reclamation of AML by active operations to alleviate environmental impacts. p. 360-369, In: Proceedings, 15th Annual Meeting of the Association of Abandoned Mined Land Programs.
Zipper, C.E., T. Younos, and E. Yagow. 1992. Comparative effects of alternative re-mining and reclamation strategies on erosion potential at a case-study abandoned mined land site. p. 671-680, In: Proceedings, 1992 National Meeting of the American Society for Surface Mining and Reclamation.
Zipper, C.E., and John R. Bryan. 1990. The case for remining: environmental benefits and resource conservation. Virginia Coal and Energy Journal 2:59-66.
Bryan, John R., and C.E. Zipper. 1989. The case for remining: environmental benefits and resource conservation. In: Proceedings, Annual Meeting of the American Mining Congress. Pittsburgh