Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is beginning construction on five abandoned mine land (AML) reclamation projects in Marion County. 

Eight projects were announced in total, which are in addition to ten others currently under construction. An additional 12 sites are in the design and planning phase, which represent more than $5 million in combined investment by the Department, and are expected to be complete by the end of 2026. The sites in Marion County that were announced are Vander Veer, North King, Klootwyk, Feagins, and Crozier Family. 

Coal mining began in Iowa as early as the 1840s with coal production peaking around 1917. Years later, the federal government enacted the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which required companies to remove hazards and stabilize coal mines after they finished mining. This legislation paved the way for the Department’s AML program, which began in 1983. Iowa has more than 13,000 acres of AML sites located primarily in Davis, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Van Buren and Wapello counties.

AML sites may include dangerous piles, embankments, high walls, pit ponds and bare acidic soils that need to be graded and neutralized for reclamation. Funding for reclamations is made available through a partnership with the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement located in the United States Department of the Interior.