Reclamation Program Leads the Way in Mining Industry
Published Mar 16, 2009
Reforestation efforts in the Ark-Tex region have earned national awards.
Planting 1 million trees each year takes some planning.
Luminant’s environmental specialists work with nurseries and the timber industry years in advance to ensure enough high-quality pine and hardwood seedlings are available to plant on land mined for lignite.
TXU Corp., Luminant’s parent company, mines lignite, a low-grade coal, throughout Northeast Texas. Although lignite seams are not as deep as other coal, extracting the material still involves strip-mining, and restoring the land has been part of the company’s mission well before environmental regulations demanded it.
The Winfield North Mine and Winfield South Mine near Mt. Pleasant and Thermo Mine near Sulphur Springs are each part of TXU’s Monticello Mines complex. All three feed the Monticello Steam Electric Station, a major regional power producer.
Since 1975, Luminant has mined more than 56,000 acres and reclaimed 63,000 because “the footprint is a little larger than the area you remove coal from,” says Sid Stroud, Luminant’s environmental mining manager.
The reclamation and reforestation program uses about 30 native species. If the land had hills, slopes or wetlands, the idea is to get close to what nature created, though a hill may not be in the exact spot, Stroud says. Former pasturelands are regraded and planted with native grasses.
Reclaimed land is managed and monitored before the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates mining operations, releases the company from its bond obligations. Data on water quality, wildlife, vegetation and soil productivity are collected and analyzed for five years. If the land passes Railroad Commission inspection, it is released for the mining company to sell or return to leaseholders.
“Those lands are used for agriculture purposes or commercial forest land purposes, either raising livestock or harvesting timber,” Stroud says.
In fact, regulators have released at least 28,600 acres of Luminant-mined land – more than half the amount released from regulation for all other mining operations in Texas combined, Stroud says. “We are really proud of that,” he says.
The company’s environmental efforts routinely attract accolades from state and federal regulators. In September 2008, Luminant received the Director’s Award for its reforestation practices from the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining for Big Brown Mine, Martin Lake Mine, Monticello Mine, Oak Hill Mine and Thermo Mine.
In announcing the award, OSM called Luminant’s efforts “extraordinary.”
“These mines show how sound science and dedication to stewardship can produce useful land for commercial forestry, food supply for wildlife, and actually add to wetlands,” the agency said. In 2007 alone, the agency noted, Luminant planted 1.64 million trees, including 32 species, 16 of which are hard-mast producers for wildlife.
Also in 2008, Luminant won the Railroad Commission’s reclamation award for the eighth time in nine years. Texas regulators were especially impressed by the establishment of “quality wildlife habitat” in half the reforested areas and a re-established longleaf pine ecosystem.
“That renewed an important natural resource by establishing a commercial timber stand that will contribute to the local economy for many years,” says Ramona Nye, the commission’s spokeswoman.
Story by Pamela Coyle
Photo by Todd Bennett
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