An industry that once brought jobs and profit to Athens County has left lasting scars on the landscape — damage that the state will attempt to repair in three Athens County locations next year.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources plans to spend $250,000 in 2012 to eliminate health and safety risks that abandoned coal mines pose to Athens County residents.
Derthick Coal Mine, located in Trimble Township, is one such mine slotted to have its exposed entries permanently closed.
“The smaller of the two entries that pose a health and safety risk will be backfilled and permanently sealed,” said Terry Van Offeren, manager of the Abandoned Mine Lands program. “The bigger of the two entrances will be gated.”
The gate will keep people out of the mine but allows for the bat population living in the mine to remain and have a way in and out of its home, Van Offeren said.
The construction costs for the Derthick site total $16,000, he added.
York Township has two locations that will receive attention from the ODNR.
The first is two hazardous bodies of water off Spice Lick Road, about four miles south of Nelsonville.
“The water, contaminated from mine runoff, is a popular site for trespassing and swimming evidenced by the presence of litter and bonfire residue,” Van Offeren said.
The Spice Lick Road project will cost $199,000, Van Offeren said. Of that, $194,000 will go into cleaning the water and decontaminating the area. The remaining $5,000 will be used to prevent further trespassing.
The ODNR’s second York Township venture involves the McCollum Coal Mine entry and gob pile, which is comprised of refuse coal. Sealing off the mine entrance and reclamation of the gob pile will cost $35,000, Van Offeren said.
The ODNR will spend $18.4 million to repair potentially dangerous mine damage. The budget is up from $12.6 million this year because more mine sites have been discovered recently, said Blake Arthur, public health and safety manager with the Abandoned Mine Lands Division of the ODNR, in an email.
The grant will fund 35 instances of health and safety concerns and 18 instances of acid mine drainage in Ohio next year, said Ben McCament, acid mine drainage program manager for the ODNR.
Van Offeren attributed the surge of the identification of mine-related problems to a seasoned staff and technology.
“The initial inventory was completed in the ’80s and done by an outside contractor. Now we have a staff with decades of experience,” said Van Offeren, adding that Google’s triumphs in the field of aerial photography have also played a large role in the identification process.
The ODNR has projected hypothetical grant funding for the Abandoned Mine Lands program through 2024, Blake added, indicating that further reclamation could take place in the near future.
sm366909@ohiou.edu
