Tagged: mining

The Interstate Mining Compact Commission is recognizing two Wyoming mines for their reclamation efforts. The IMCC represents environmental protection interests and awards one non-coal and one coal project each year. The M-I SWACO Bentonite Mine in Big Horn County won the non-coal award and the Bridger Coal Mine received honorable mention in the coal category.

Department of Environmental Quality spokesman, Keith Guille, says the IMCC only gives two awards each year and it’s significant that Wyoming was recognized for both.

Wyoming leaders are shell-shocked after learning that Congress has arranged to take hundreds of millions of dollars money from the Abandoned Mine Lands program to fund a federal transportation bill.

Wyoming coal producers have paid $2.9 billion into the program, and the state was guaranteed $1.9 billion back for reclamation efforts. The cut would reduce Wyoming’s share by about 700 million dollars over the next decade. That money is used for a variety of projects.  

The Wyoming Miners Hospital Board is looking to make changes in its programs, as the result of 8-percent budget cuts Governor Matt Mead has asked all state agencies to prepare for.

The Hospital Board assists miners in the state with medical costs related to hearing, respiratory, cardiac and muscle skeletal issues all of which are problem areas for miners.

Mary Ellen Young is a retired coal miner and executive director of the Wyoming Miners Hospital Board. She says the cuts will affect the Board’s services in two places.