Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says his department is beginning work to restore seven abandoned mine sites in south-central and southeast Iowa. Coal was strip mined from the areas.
He says the soil and rocks were stripped back to get at the coal.
He says the water in the pond is not good quality, and often very acidic. Naig says this is not the same as cleaning up a superfund toxic waste site.
Naig says you may not be able to grow crops on the ground, but it can grow grass and other vegetation after the process is done. Iowa is doing the cleanup in conjunction with the federal government in a program that was created in the 1970’s and 80’s. Naig says they’ve made progress in addressing the old mine sites here.
The program is spending 10 million dollars for these seven projects. Naig says it will take around one year to complete them.
