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May 8, 2007
ODNR TO HOLD MEETING IN ATHENS TO DISCUSS
ABANDONED MINE PROJECTS IN SOUTHEASTERN OHIO
 COLUMBUS, OH - The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) will hold a public meeting in Athens on Wednesday, May 16th to discuss proposed abandoned mine projects being considered in four southeastern Ohio counties. The meeting is set for 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the conference room of the ODNR district office at 360 E. State Street.
Staff members from the ODNR Division of Mineral Resources Management will be on hand to discuss environmental and public health and safety issues associated with Ohio mines that were abandoned prior to August 3, 1977, when legislation addressing the problem went into effect.
They will discuss the policies and procedures of Ohio’s Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program and present a list of proposed projects for Belmont, Gallia, Hocking and Perry counties.
Meeting attendees are encouraged to present details of their own abandoned mine problems in these counties, as well as Athens, Guernsey, Jackson, Lawrence, Licking, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Vinton and Washington counties, and to check on eligibility for funding.
In May, ODNR will apply for approximately $4.36 million in federal grant money from the U.S. Department of the Interior to fund abandoned mine clean-ups during the next year throughout the northeastern and southeastern Ohio coal mining region. Part of that money is earmarked for five non-emergency projects in southeastern Ohio.
ODNR proposes to spend about $1,190,000 on construction for these projects. Also included in the $4.36 million grant is $759,000 to improve streams impacted by acid mine drainage, including four sites within the Monday Creek drainage basin in Perry County, and $1.8 million to address emergency abandoned mine land problems in the coal region.
Projects proposed for the southeastern Ohio mining district will accomplish the following:
- Eliminate one dangerous water impoundment
- Backfill 1400 lineal feet of dangerous highwall
- Stabilize three mine-related landslides
- Backfill several subsidence features
- Install or upgrade three mine drainage diversion systems
- Improve the water quality of Sunday Creek
- Eliminate mine drainage on two residential streets in Murray City
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