(COLUMBIA, MO) Jeff Jarrett, Director of the US Office of Surface Mining, today toured abandoned coal mine sites near Columbia, Missouri, and advocated Congressional renewal of the fee that pays for cleanup of such sites.

The Office of Surface Mining estimated last year that 36,127 Missourians are living less than a mile from a dangerous abandoned mine site. Missouri has about $40.7 million worth of unreclaimed high-priority Abandoned Mine Land problems.

"The Abandoned Mine Land program has made thousands of Americans living in the coalfields safer, but the job is not finished," said Jarrett. "Even after 25 years of extraordinary national effort, we still have almost $3 billion worth of high-priority hazards to health and safety waiting to be cleaned up. We still have 3.5 million Americans living less than a mile from a dangerous abandoned mine site. The proposed legislation will let us get more Americans out of danger and do so more quickly."

Jarrett today toured the Cedar Creek and Rocky Forks Abandoned Mine projects near Columbia. Upper Cedar Creek, in Boone Country, Missouri, lies within the boundaries of the Mark Twain National Forest and is a significant aquatic resource in Central Missouri. It drains approximately 2,000 acres of abandoned coal mines. Numerous fish kills were reported between 1948 and 1980. In some instances, the entire 44 miles of the stream were made lifeless due to acid mine drainage. The Missouri AML program rehabilitated 706 acres between 1985 through 1990. Flooding in 1990 and 1993 severely damaged the site. The AML program constructed passive treatment wetlands, repaired stream banks, and planted native warm season grasses between 1997 and 2002. Reclamation improved the water quality and reduced the likelihood of future fish kills.

The Rocky Fork Creek area is just north of Columbia, Missouri at the location of the Mark Twain mine. Approximately 3,500 acres were mined at this location between 1950 and 1972. Several fish kills that effected from 3 to 5 miles of the stream have occurred due to acid mine drainage. 1,100 acres have been donated to Missouri State parks and 2,024 acres were sold to Missouri Department of Conservation to create a Conservation area. Public use of the area is high for outdoor recreation. The Rocky Fork coal waste gob pile and slurry pond are unstable, posing significant threats to aquatic life. Visitors to the area risk injury due to unstable steep slopes created by erosion. The Rocky Fork Creek is on the list of impaired waters by U.S. EPA and Missouri DNR.

The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) collects fees on current coal mining to fund reclamation of coal mine sites abandoned before 1977. However, OSM's authority to collect the fee is scheduled to expire on September 30. The Administration has proposed legislation that would continue the program and accelerate the rate of reclamation for the most dangerous sites.

"We need to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Land fee so that reclamation like these projects in Central Missouri can continue," said Jarrett. "These are very real hazards that cause deaths and injury and threaten the lives and health of Americans every day."

Missouri did not receive its $1.6 million grant for abandoned mine land reclamation last year because in 2003 the Missouri legislature failed to fully fund the State's 50 percent share of the Missouri Coal regulatory program. That money has been returned to the AML Fund to be distributed to other states. OSM is currently holding this year's $1.6 million grant because the Legislature earlier this year failed to fund the state's regulatory program.

"The lack of a fully funded coal regulatory program has cost Missouri $1.6 million in AML funds so far and failure to fund the program for FY05 could result in another $1.6 million lost," said Jarrett. "That's in addition to the 50 percent of the cost of the coal regulatory program that the federal Government would have provided."

High resolution photos of AML problems are available online at www.osmre.gov.