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Show Indiana, and Ohio would average at least 50 per- cent of the area strip mined in these States. Per- centages of cropland strip mined in the other States would be lower due to the rough terrain and the predominance of woodland in areas where strip mine operations are being carried out. A comparison of the values of land used for coal mining purposes versus agricultural uses can be il- lustrated as follows: An acre of land underlain by coal deposits 1 foot thick would contain about 1,800 tons of raw coal, or 1,600 tons of recoverable coal an acre. Xhe average thickness for coal seams stripped is about 4 feet, making the average coal recovery at least 6,000 tons an acre. The im- mediate effect of removing these lands from agri- cultural production when compared with the value of 6,000 tons of coal an acre appears negligible. Points which must be kept in mind, however, are that the mining of the coal consumes almost the entire value of the land, while agricultural income from these lands is a recurring benefit. Damages to water resources from mine stripping vary greatly, depending on the character of the rock and soil strata. When the soils contain fine material which are toxic to plants, and considerable eroded material enters the streams, the acid content of the waters is increased. When soils contain much easily weathered limestone, reclamation of the soil banks is relatively simple and the water found flowing from them is of high quality. In recent -years there has been a marked increase in the efforts of strip coal mining companies and others to rehabilitate or reclaim stripped areas. About 95 percent of the total areas stripped can be reclaimed for useful production. The remaining 5 percent is either so acid, toxic, or rocky as to render the land useless for plant growth. Strip mined areas may be reclaimed or rehabilitated for reforestation, pasture development, recreation, horticulture, or crop production. Except in cer- tain favorable areas, the costs of reclaiming lands for cropland are so great that such costs cannot be economically justified. Grading operations to restore strip mined areas to their approximately original contour cost from $65 to $1,400 an acre. Costs in most areas inspected by the land use ad- visory committee of the National Coal Association ranged between $300 and $500 an acre. Additional expenditures are required for conditioning the soil and restoring and improving the productivity of these areas before successful forest, pastures, or other crops can be grown. Research to date indicates that the most feasible rehabilitation processes are pasture and reforesta- tion. While considerable rehabilitation work has been carried out in recent years-mainly pasture development and reforestation-the standards of rehabilitation have not been adequate to return these areas to their best productive use. For in- stance, forest tree plantings have not included the quantities or varieties essential to provide adequate forest cover or economic production. Generally the quality of naturally developed pasture or forest on stripped areas is far below that of nearby un- stripped lands. The low productivity of stripped lands is due generally to the lack of organic matter, and the heavy proportion of rock and shale on or near the surface. Use of fertilizers, partial leveling, and seeding of suitable varieties on spoil piles makes it possible to develop productive pastures. Planting of suitable types of trees improves the success of forest cover. With proper treatment, specialty crops such as vineyards and orchards may be pos- sible. Such treatment is usually costly, however, and the results may not always be economically profitable if all costs must be borne by the resulting crops. Regulatory legislation has been passed in West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The Illinois law, which included rather stringent leveling require- ments for coal stripping only, was considered by the courts as discriminatory legislation and de- clared unconstitutional in 1947. Legislation in the other States varies from a requirement to revege- tate the stripped areas to covering of coal seams and partial leveling. The laws generally require a license or permit for mining, with a bond on a per acre basis to assure performance or compliance with rehabilitation requirements. Bond require- ments and conditions for performance are not al- ways adequate to accomplish the purposes of the act. Laws are generally designed to meet specific types of mining operations and may not fit all types of strip mining even within the State. Funds and authority for enforcement are sometimes lacking or limited, with the result that a substantial amount of the rehabilitation efforts have either been ineffec- tive or incomplete. In addition to strip mining to recover coal near the surface, stripping is used to secure sand, gravel, "tiff' (barite), feldspar, phosphate, and to quarry lime or other rock. The problems relative to coal stripping discussed in this section are also applicable to these other stripping activities. 692 |