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Two Illinois Congressmen joined with legislators from West Virginia and Pennsylvania to propose more transparency in the government’s efforts to prevent coal mine collapses.
U.S. Reps. Nikki Budzinski and Mike Bost – a Democrat and Republican working together – introduced the Monitoring, Investigating, Navigating and Explaining Subsidence (MINES) Act with U.S. Reps. Alex Mooney (R-W.V.) and Matt Cartwright (D-Penn.) on July 25.
The bill would require the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surfacing Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to provide a report to Congress on its efforts to prevent subsidence and deal with the economic consequences of coal mine collapses.
Budzinski said that a year after a mine collapsed underneath a Belleville, Ill. grocery store, the store remains closed and local residents struggle to access nutritious food – a “food desert” problem that plagues much of the region.
“From store, school and road closures to the displacement of residents from their homes, these events can be devastating,” Budzinski said. “With millions of Americans living in close proximity to abandoned mines – including many of my constituents – it’s critical that we improve our understanding of how to prevent the subsidence of coal mines and make our communities more resilient in the aftermath.”
ABANDONED COAL MINES
Budzinski’s joint statement with Bost, Mooney and Cartwright said there are hundreds of thousands of acres of abandoned coal mines in the U.S. In addition to the grocery store in Belleville, mine subsidence has displaced families in Albers, Ill. when the foundations of their homes were cracked and destroyed. In Fairmont, W.V., local organizations have had to pay to repair sinkholes caused by mine subsidence, and Luzerne, Penn. saw homes evacuated and roads closed due to collapsing mines.
GORDON MOORE PARK
Most recently, a massive sinkhole suddenly collapsed half a soccer field at Gordon Moore Park, not far from the Workers’ Memorial managed by the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor. No workers were injured in the collapse, associated with mining by New Frontier Materials.
Read More: Illinois representatives introduce MINES Act