July 2016
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has denied the Springfield Coal Company application to strip mine 773 acres in northern Schuyler County, located across the McDonough County line south of Macomb. The mine company had a year to respond to an IDNR letter regarding the permit application but did not do so. By state mining regulations the permit is denied if the company fails to respond within one year. Citizens raised many issues at the IDNR public hearing on this mine and some of those issues were in the IDNR letter requesting more information or other details from Springfield Coal.
Heart of Illinois Group Sierra member and Prairie Rivers Network member Ramona Cook spoke out against the mine permit and attended hearings. “I have been worried about this mine application since it was filed in March of 2012,” said Cook, who lives just northeast of the proposed site. “The mine would have been in the middle of a huge, wooded watershed that drains into Sugar Creek, the Illinois River, and points south. Many people get their drinking water from these tributaries. Cougars, bobcats, deer, turkeys, owls, and blue herons live in it. That’s why I live here too.” The area is now saved from this surface mining destruction, which would have cleared hundreds of acres of existing forest, farm fields, and many other natural attributes all for the one time taking of coal. Sierra Club, the Prairie Rivers Network, and Environmental Law and Policy Center have a case ongoing against Springfield Coal Company regarding over 600 water permit pollution violations at their Industry Coal strip mine in McDonough County.