Grundy County demonstration site: Phase I planning. Final report. [Coal mine spoil reclamation demonstration project in Illinois]

Technical Report · Thu May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1975

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6511187· OSTI ID:6511187

Green, B. B.; Zellmer, S. D.

The state of Illinois, with its valuable coal and food production and growing numbers of people, is becoming more interested in reclaiming land that has been or is being used for energy production. New surface mining legislation has put the burden on the coal companies of reclaiming land that has been currently mined, but the so-called pre-law lands (lands that were mined before the 1971 Surface-mined Land Conservation and Reclamation Act) have been largely ignored. The Grundy County demonstration project has grown out of the desire to mend this omission. Orginial reclamation operations were begun in the fall of 1972 and continued through the first half of 1973. The emphasis was on regrading the spoils and filling in some of the lakes on site. Topsoiling, seeding, and liming were done, but much of this effort was lost due to heavy rains and inadequate stabilization. Today, large parts of the regraded spoils are bare, and there is a severe acid runoff problem. The Grundy County demonstration site is adjacent to the Goose Lake Prairie State Park and is intended to be used as a park overlook with picnicking facilities; however, at this point, the area cannot be used for this purpose. Therefore, this proposal is in answer to a request by the State Department of Conservation and the Illinois Institute for Environmental Quality that Argonne National Laboratory (1) determine the present problems on the site and (2) determine what will be necessary to achieve full use of the site. Many of the problems that occur throughout Illinois (e.g., acid formation, severe erosion, and sterile terrestrial and aquatic environments) occur on the Grundy County site. Thus, a unique opportunity to provide both a public recreation area and gain valuable information about the reclamation of other pre-law lands is available at the Grundy County site.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6511187
• Report Number(s): ANL/EES-TM-20
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010800 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Waste Management
510500* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACID MINE DRAINAGE
COAL MINING
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EROSION
GREAT LAKES REGION
ILLINOIS
LAND RECLAMATION
LAND USE
MASS TRANSFER
MINING
NORTH AMERICA
RECREATIONAL AREAS
REVEGETATION
RUNOFF
SPOIL BANKS
SURFACE MINING
USA