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ODNR presents Valley mine land projects
By Kalea Hall
SALEM
Gail and Bill Long of Minerva went to an Ohio Department of Natural Resources meeting about abandoned mines, knowing they have some sinkholes on their 35 acres.
They left the meeting Monday knowing that they have a feature of past mining on their property.
“It’s been very informational,” Gail said.
ODNR hosts a series of these meetings for its abandoned mine projects in several counties, including some in the Mahoning Valley, to tell the public about future projects for addressing Ohio mines that were abandoned before 1977.
In Mahoning County, ODNR has a grant proposal for a section of state Route 165 in Beaver Township that has a highwall or vertical rock faces, which were a part of strip-mining operations. Highwalls can be unstable, and this particular one is considered dangerous. The estimated project cost to eliminate the highwall is $649,611.
In Columbiana County, ODNR has a grant proposal for the demolition of a hazardous equipment facility in Elk Run Township, which would cost an estimated $81,263. The steel-reinforced concrete structures were once used for coal washing, and some coal fragments can still be located in and around the site.
Also in Columbiana County, ODNR estimates the cost for removal of a highwall on Waterford Road in Unity Township at $130,609.
Two other dangerous highwalls in the county that ODNR would like to remove are in Madison Township. Less than 500 feet of either one or both highwalls are 12 residences, and one of them is less than 900 feet from an elementary school.
Funding for these projects comes through the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, and the funds are generated through a severance tax on coal.
ODNR staff members go out to these locations to evaluate them after they are discovered. The agency has a database to help with the discovery, but in addition to that, people call in with the feature on their property. Features are the problems, like highwalls or mine shafts, that could accompany mine land.
The goal is to have all of the above projects under construction within three to five years.
Including these projects, ODNR has 16 mine projects in Columbiana County that are in the grant, design or construction phase; four in Mahoning County; and one in Trumbull County.
“We are actively finding and updating our inventory, and we have new potential projects coming in,” said Jeffrey Clarke, environmental specialist with the division of mineral resources management of ODNR. “Once we get the authorization to use that money, we have three years” to do so.