Agriculture and Strip Coal Mining • By George H. Walter
Strip coal mining does not cover much land area. Yet these operations produced about one- sixth of the total coal production of the United States in 1945. At the same time the mining operations have repercussions on the farms, the farm families, and the communities in the local areas.
TRIP coal mining is a rapidly expanding indus- complete knowledge of the real situation would S try competing with agriculture for the use of assist materially in working out mutually satis- lands that are underlain by suitable coal deposits. factory solutions to problems arising out of coal- Although this method of mining has been prac- stripping operations. The following discussion of ticed for many years, it was not until the develop- some of the problems and conditions indicates the ment of the steam shovel that the industry became complexity of the subject and the need for further of major importance. World War I was a great study of a land-use problem which, although small stimulus to the small industry. Later, the so far as acreage affected is concerned, may have development of the huge electric stripping shovels serious social effects in those areas where the coal- and draglines made it possible to strip-mine coal stripping activities are concentrated. Any future of greater depth. This fact increased the acreage study of strip coal mining and its relationships of land in which the companies could operate and with agriculture should consider the implications increased the size of the industry. The low labor of these activities from both the private and the requirement of strip mines per ton of coal pro- public viewpoint. duced as compared with shaft mines gave it further impetus in World War II when labor Current Situation became critically scarce. In areas where seams of coal lie relatively close As the industry grew and its operations removed to the surface, strip coal mining competes with ever-increasing areas from agricultural uses, the agriculture for the use of the land. Coal is mined conflicts in the interests of the strip-coal com- by the open-cut or stripping process in about half panies and the local people became increasingly of the States and is an especially important indus- evident. To date, at least five States have passed try in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, West Vir- legislation to regulate the activities of strip coal- ginia, and Ohio, where large tonnages are cur- mining companies. Proposals for regulatory rently produced by this method. About one-sixth legislation have been considered by the legislatures of the total coal production for the Nation is now of at least as many other States. These laws and coming from strip coal mines. proposals usually contain provisions both for Strip coal companies are gradually acquiring regulation and licensing of mining operations and title, leases, or options for future mining operations for requiring certain types of rehabilitation work wherever land has coal of suitable quality located on the stripped areas. Methods proposed or not more than 75 feet below the surface. This required differ greatly. They often indicate lack involves much agricultural land. In some areas of understanding of the real problems involved or even deeper deposits are being mined by the strip- indicate the wishes of special interests—those of ping method and future development of new types strip-coal companies, or their competitors, or of equipment may increase the maximum depth persons who are opposed to stripping for other for economical stripping operations. The maxi- reasons. mum depth economically profitable depends on Lack of sufficient information and understand- the thickness of the coal seam. An acre of land ing about the great variety of conditions under underlain by a coal deposit 1 foot thick would which strip coal mining is done is partially re- contain about 1,800 tons of raw coal. Econom- sponsible for the diversity of the proposals for ically strippable coal deposits usually range from legislative regulation. In many cases, a more about 2 feet to more than 12 feet in thickness. 24 The average strip mine recovers about 6,000 tons rights far in advance of actual stripping operations. of coal per acre stripped, indicating an average The agricultural value of lands underlain by thickness of about 4 feet for the coal seams strippable coal vary greatly. Many of the strip- stripped. pable areas that have been worked in the Eastern Mining of an acre of coal by the stripping States were either forest or pasture lands. The process usually removes considerably more than an strip-coal deposits of southern Indiana and acre of land from agricultural use. In the eastern southern Illinois usually are under relatively poor strip-coal fields of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West clay-pan soils. In contrast, some of the areas Virginia, the areas of strippable coal are often being stripped in western and northern Illinois strips around the sides of hills at the level of the contain very highly productive prairie soils. coal outcrop. Here the overburden, as the rock Most of the strip-coal deposits of Missouri and and soil covering the coal is called, is usually Kansas are under medium to low-grade agricul- pushed downhill as the coal is uncovered by the tural lands. first cut in the stripping process. If the slope of Extent of Stripping Operations the hill will permit later parallel cuts to be made exposing more coal without removing an excessive Current stripping operations remove coal from depth of overburden, the material from the second 10 to 15 thousand acres each year. In the process cut is placed where the first cut was made. Strip- of strip mining, probably about one-half again ping covers up some land where coal is not mined this acreage is made unusable for future agricul- and often leaves small hilltops cut off or inacessible ture unless rehabilitation efforts are successfully for agricultural uses. carried out. Although the greatest acreage affect- Strippable coal deposits in Illinois and Indiana ed by strip coal mining is currently in Pennsylva- are usually in relatively level and compact areas nia, the greatest effect on agriculture is probably containing as much as several thousand acres. As found in Illinois, where the land being stripped is operations in these areas continue in parallel cuts of higher agricultural quality. Current coal until the strippable area is exhausted, propor- stripping in Illinois is at the rate of about 3,000 tionally less acreage of agricultural land not acres of coal per year, with possibly 500 to 1,000 underlain by coal is disturbed physically by the additional acres changed from agricultural to min- stripping operations. Because of their compact- ing uses in the stripping process. About two- ness and relatively large size, these operations, in thirds of the Illinois lands now being stripped some cases, may have equal or more serious were in cultivated crops before they were bought effects than the stripping operations on hillsides. by the coal companies. The remaining third was The coal companies seldom have much difficulty primarily pasture. To date, about 38,000 acres in obtaining the rights to strip-coal lands. Where have been stripped in this State. most or all of a tract of farm land is underlain by The effect of removing these lands on the coal, the companies usually purchase title to the national or State agricultural production is negli- land. They may pay as much as $500 per acre for gible so far, when compared with the total produc- the property; the price usually depends on the tion of any crop. The dollar value of the agricul- thickness of the coal seam, its location, and the tural production from the land before the stripping bargaining position of the seller. If the quantity would be far less than the value of the 6,000 tons of strippable coal is quite uncertain or if only a per acre of coal obtained by stripping. In both small part of a farm is underlain by strippable cases, however, there are costs which must be coal, a royalty lease may be made providing for a subtracted from the gross income before proper payment to the landowner of from 5 to 25 cents comparisons can be made. Too, agricultural in- per ton of coal removed. Total payments per come is a re-occurring benefit, whereas coal strip- acre of coal are often higher from a royalty lease ping consumes almost the entire value of the land. than from a purchase of the land title, but the No figures are available on costs of strip coal payment per acre disturbed by operations may mining, so it is now impossible to assess from a reduce the advantage of leasing over selling. To public viewpoint the relative net benefits. assure themselves of a future supply of strippable From the public standpoint, strip coal mining is coal, companies secure options or purchase coal an example of competition between producers of
S 25
LOCATION AND EXTENT OF STRIP COAL MINING AS INDICATED BY STRIP-COAL PRODUCTION IN 1945
SOURCE OF DATA BUREAU OF MINES, COUNTIES CONTAINING STRIP-COAL MINES— DEPARTMENT OF TYPE OF COAL AND PRODUCTION THE INTERIOR I 1 Anthracite KJ Lignite Bituminous less than 250,000 tons STRIP-COAL PRODUCTION, 1945 ANTHRACITE 10,056,325 TONS Bituminous. 250,000 to 500,000 tons LIGNITE 1,962,168 TONS In Bituminous over 500,000 tons BITUMINOUS" 107,318,555 TONS
U S DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE NEG 46978 BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY FIGURE 2 two types of natural resources, both of which are operations have been responsible for many exag- currently in high demand. Strip coal mining is gerations and misstatements concerning the de- a means of utilizing coal resources which either structive effects to be expected on the local eco- could not be recovered by underground or shaft nomies as a result of strip coal-mining operations. mining or, where they could be mined by an Groups representing coal interests stress the underground operation, only between half and benefits of strip mining. Local farmers or civic two-thirds of the coal could be so recovered. Any groups usually stress the disadvantages to the social assessment of the merits of strip coal group they represent. The public often becomes mining must consider whether current coal pro- bewildered and may promote legislation without duction is of greater importance than the con- having sufficient basis for their efforts or sufficient tinuous crop production from the strip-coal lands. evidence to guide them. Usual Effects on Immediate Locality Studies Made Strippable coal deposits are usually concen- To understand better the conflicting interests trated in rather compact and limited areas where when a currently more profitable land use, such one or more valuable coal seams are near the sur- as strip coal mining, displaces agricultural use, a face. The importance of strip coal mining to the detailed study of three important strip coal-min- people in these limited localities greatly outweighs ing areas in Illinois was undertaken jointly by its importance on the national level. The physi- the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station and cal nearness of stripping operations affects local the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. The people both financially and emotionally and it results indicated that (1) coal-stripping opera- affects them as a community. Misinformation tions have several noteworthy local effects and and the relative newness of large-scale stripping (2) few of these will be felt very far beyond the
26 • 1110 trading areas or vicinities in which the mines are immediate inflation in farm land values in the located. vicinity of stripping operations. Owners who sell The widespread effects of strip coal mining land often find it necessary to go some distance include competition with shaft mining and other to buy other land at its agricultural value. There fuels, movements of population into areas to is also evidence of considerable speculation in land supply trained mining personnel, and associated in areas adjoining or near strippable coal fields. effects on business. Local effects include a grad- A typical large strip-coal mine in Illinois re- ual decrease in farm production and farm employ- moves coal from under the equivalent of about ment as the land is stripped, associated changes one medium-sized farm per year. Operations at in service industries, and changes in requirements any one time follow coal deposits and normally in public services and costs. cross parts of what have been several farms, but the rate of farmer displacement is relatively slow. Early Effects The farmers are usually displaced so slowly that For any specific area in which a large-scale no major relocation problems occur. stripping operation is begun, the immediate effect A strip coal mine that has operated for several is an influx of specialists to construct the mine years will usually have completely stripped at plant usually known as a tipple, to operate the least a part of the coal field. The boundaries of stripping and coal-processing machinery, and to the coal deposits will be known and conditions make geological explorations to determine the will begin to stabilize. The unstripped portions exact limits of the coal deposits. Only a few of mine holdings are usually either tented to local farmers are displaced in these initial operations farmers or farmed in connection with other land and they are often included among the local people holdings of the coal companies or their officers, employed in semi-skilled or unskilled jobs around or they are left idle. the mine. Local concerns benefit from the influx of workers, the local purchase of supplies, and the Land Values and Taxes increased employment of local people. Within a As long as the coal companies continue to oper- year, local taxing units benefit by additions to the ate in the area; total taxes paid by coal companies assessment rolls of new construction and property on their holdings will continue to be greater than of the coal companies. were the taxes paid on the acreage before the Local farm people first notice the effect of the stripping. Values on lands not underlain by coal coal mining when lands are optioned for purchase either return to the agricultural level or to a lower by the coal companies. Speculation on coal possi- level that reflects the usual disinclination of pros- bilities may increase the local land values and pective purchasers to own land near the spoil have a disturbing effect on the communities. piles of strip mines. Farmers who have given options to mine their When a strippable coal deposit becomes ex- land no longer keep up improvements and are hausted, the coal companies move on, removing likely to lose interest in the community affairs. their equipment and improvements. The remain- As mining progresses, it disrupts the neighborhood ing spoil piles and the final cuts where coal was exchange of labor, road transportation, and school- removed have little productivity. In nearly every district organization and operation in the areas State, except Illinois, such stripped lands are re- adjoining and including the stripping operations. assessed after stripping at levels far below their former assessed values when in agricultural uses. Farmer Displacement Slow Insofar as services, as for roads and schools, can When coal companies option or purchase lands be cut by corresponding amounts as a result of a underlain by coal, they usually offer to pay more reduction of needs, the reduced tax base would than the current value for purely agricultural have no effect. Often, however, removal of the lands in that neighborhood. As the farm-land mining industry results in unemployment for these owners seldom know the extent of the acreages local workers until adjustments take place in underlain by strippable coal and as coal com- population. Unless reorganization is carried panies option many acreages that have question- through, school costs continue at high levels. able underlay, the effectlis often to cause an Too often in the past roads that should have been • 27 abandoned as unneeded have been replaced after ditions7arerfavorable, have been seeded to pasture. the stripping is done, in their old location, with a Such seedings have been made both on partially resulting expense for continuing maintenance leveled spoil piles and on ungraded spoil piles. costs that is far in excess of their use value. Some experimental leveling has also been done in Adjustments take time and add to the costs of Illinois and other States and a few companies local government during the transition period. have made limited experiments to learn the rela- Local people expect a larger part of the tax bur- tive suitability of leveled, partially leveled, and den to be carried by the remaining nonstrip mine unleveled spoil piles for field crops, pasture and property in the area than the acreage carried hay, forest trees, orchards, and vineyards. A few before the operations. stripped areas have been developed as recreational As most farmers consider strip-mine spoil piles areas and as game refuges. to be "poor neighbors," owners of adjoining farms The type of machinery that has been used and often claim that their land values are lowered, the nature of the overburden greatly influence thus causing them an uncompensated-for loss of the selection of rehabilitation practices. When equity value. These same landowners often fear the entire layer of overburden is removed by an that their taxes after the mining ceases will be electric shovel, the roughness of the spoils in- increased to replace the revenue no longer obtain- creases with the depth of the coal. However, able from the strip-mine lands. Few of these new methods of mining, involving tandem opera- owners recognize that although their claims re- tions (a dragline and an electric shovel working garding the future may be true, they benefit while together), often result both in more selective the strip mines operate from lower tax rates than replacement of overburden with the rock covered probably could be expected if the coal companies by the finer soils formerly on top and in less had not added materially to the tax base. rugged spoil piles. Areas where these new meth- Abandonment of some local roads and schools ods have been followed may offer far more favor- in the mined areas may necessitate some reorgani- able conditions for all types of rehabilitation zation of local government functions. Temporarily measures. Future developments in mining meth- this may inconvenience local people but the final ods will influence efforts toward rehabilitation. result may be to facilitate or speed up needed Where the surface of the spoil piles contains reorganization of local government functions. a high proportion of soil materials with little rock or shale or toxic and acid pyrites, pastures Possibilities of Rehabilitation can be developed within a few years after the Farmers and other local people dislike to see surface is seeded to sweetclover and other legumes good agricultural lands reduced to spoil piles. and to grasses. The same type of area is some- Objections to strip coal mining are usually more times suitable for orchards, or vineyards, or forest. pronounced in areas where the land being stripped Whether partial leveling before these types of is relatively good cropland than in areas where rehabilitation are undertaken is economically stripping is largely in forest lands, pasture lands, justified will depend on local conditions, including or poor croplands. In nearly all areas, however, the nature of the spoil piles. there is significant public support for requiring Spoil piles of a suitable physical nature can be coal companies to rehabilitate lands after stripping profitably developed for pasture if they can be operations have been completed. Coal companies used in conjunction with adjoining cropland. often undertake some kind of rehabilitation efforts Limited experience by farmers in Illinois, Indiana, on the stripped areas. and Ohio indicates that spoil-pile pastures are Kinds of rehabilitation advocated range from more suitable for beef cattle than for other types requiring complete restoration of the original of domestic meat animals. Successful utiliza- topography, including replacement of topsoil, to tion of any pasture development often depends the less intensive practice of planting of the on whether adjoining landowners are interested stripped areas to grass or trees. To date, efforts in using such pastures for beef cattle. of the companies toward rehabilitating stripped For the many spoil banks that are left rough areas have consisted primarily of planting trees. and rocky when the mining is finished, forest and A few areas, especially in Illinois where soil con- wildlife are the most suitable uses. During the 28 • last 25 years, coal companies have made forest- mining companies have seldom leveled land they 11Ptree plantings on stripped areas with varying own after the coal has been removed. In a few degrees of success. Other areas have been left to known cases, farmers owning lands underlain by become reforested by nature. Early plantings coal have permitted mining on a royalty agreement were primarily of black locust, and later damage which also provided for the leveling of the spoil by borers was very destructive. Later plantings piles. The inclusion of this requirement reduced have included greater proportions of conifers. the royalty payments per ton of coal removed. It None of these conifers have reached maturity but appears that these reductions in royalties have some of the stands in southern Indiana and Illinois ranged from $400 to $1,000 per acre—amounts seem promising. Natural reseeding often results usually far in excess of the prevailing prices for in thin stands, frequently containing a large pro- other lands of comparable quality in the area. portion of cottonwood, intermixed with other Coal companies claim that the cost of leveling is locally common hardwoods. As reforestation re- greater than the value of the resulting lands and, quires no leveling it has been the most popular for this reason, they oppose legislation requiring type of rehabilitation with the mining companies. them to level after the stripping is completed. Experimental research by the U. S. Forest Service, Arguments advanced against leveling point out the State conservation departments, and the coal high rock content of much of the overburden, the companies, is under way in the North Central low nitrogen and organic matter content of the States to determine the types of trees best suited resulting soils, and the problems of drainage and to each of the major types of spoil piles. Wildlife, settling. Where leveled areas have been planted both vegetative and animal, gradually develops in to field crops or orchards, and a moderate quantity stripped areas that are not used for pasture but of nitrogen fertilizer has been used, results appear neither trees nor wildlife are likely to restock physically promising. Whether the production naturally in areas used for pasture. from leveled acreages can justify the cost is open In some cases, where strip mining has resulted to question. To date, the total area that has been in the development of artificial lakes, in the final leveled is probably less than 500 acres. cuts, or in roadways, or among the spoil piles, the tract has been developed for recreational uses by Conclusions private or governmental units. Water is usually the principal attraction of these parks, for, so far, Strip coal mining is an extractive industry which they have been in localities that lack natural lakes will probably continue as long as suitable coal or other recreational outdoor places. The rough- deposits exist. It is increasingly recognized by ness of the spoil piles limits their attraction for both companies and citizens that the industry has hikers and hunters, and picnic parties usually an obligation, however, to help so far as possible to prefer more developed sites. minimize the effects of its operations on the people Naturally revegetated spoil piles furnish suitable in the communities in which it operates. It is of cover for wildlife. Where wildlife refuges are importance not only to the local people and the coal needed they could be further developed for such companies but to the general public as well that uses. A few areas, however, will not be suitable the stripped lands be returned to an economically even for wildlife as their spoil piles contain acids sound and productive use after mining operations or other toxic substances that limit or make im- cease. Society has the ability through legislation possible nearly all types of plant growth. Such to protect the interests of any individuals or the piles will remain barren wastes until the toxic or public as a whole if future research discloses such acid substances have leached away. Fortunately, need. Effort should be made, however, to avoid so far a relatively small proportion of the strip- discriminatory or penalty legislation that is not mine spoil piles have been chemically unsuited to in the interest of either the strip-coal companies plant growth. or the public as a whole. In order to best serve all interested parties, considerable additional Leveling Activities information and analyses must be obtained rela- Only a few small stripped areas have been tive to the effects of coal-stripping operations leveled and returned to farm uses. Strip coal- and the practicable uses for stripped lands. • 29