Abandoned Coal Mine Land Research Program

A 1989 agreement between the University of Wyoming and the Division of Land Quality Abandoned Mine Land Program of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality provided an amount up to $250,000 per year to support the Abandoned Coal Mine Land Research Program (ACMLRP). The Program is intended to stimulate applied research and development projects relating to underground and surface mine reclamation techniques in order to increase the transfer of information on state-of-art technology, and to increase the exchange of research information and expertise between the academic, state agency, engineering, mining, and construction communities. All of the policy functions of the ACMLRP are under the supervision of a steering committee which is chaired jointly by the Administrator of the DEQ Land Quality Division, Cheyenne, and the University's Vice President for Research, Laramie. The steering committee includes representatives from State and Federal agencies, the University and community colleges, companies involved in mineral extraction, and consultants.

The expected benefits of the program are:

1. Reduced costs of reclamation work through more confidence in technology and less chance of having to repeat the work, or ending up in disputes or litigation over the reclamation work.
   
2. Through this program and the University, one entity provides coordinated scientific reclamation research as an independent party yet including the interests of the regulatory agencies and the mining industry. This coordination helps establish the need and priority for research and helps avoid duplication of effort.
   
3. Research will provide state-of-the-art reclamation technology for the Abandoned Mine Land Program, to enable sound and cost effective work to be completed during initial operations, whereby avoiding or minimizing the need to return to sites to supplement, amend, or repeat the work.
   
4. Provide useful tools and techniques to communities impacted by abandoned mine land problems, such as mine subsidence.
   

In 1992 the Office of Surface Mining was approached and asked to provide staff from the Office of Technology Transfer, Denver to serve as resources to the Steering Committee and conduct the technology transfer function of the ACMLRP. In this role, since that time, OSM has provided several thousand copies of final research reports to citizens, environmental groups, academia, industry, consultants, students, and other interested parties. Providing the final research reports on line is the most recent service that OSM is providing on behalf of the ACMLRP.

Project Review Seminars are held to keep both Committees (Steering and Technical), and the stakeholders appraised of the progress of the research project(s). Progress reports, final reports, or presentations on the final reports are submitted prior to the Seminar and distributed at the time of the Seminar. Semi-Annual and Annual Seminar Progress Reports 1992 to 2003 are available below:

Visit the following sites:
University of Wyoming, Laramie
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Cheyenne

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