By Joyce Blumenshine

At the August 23rd Peoria Solid Waste Committee meeting, an update was given on ongoing issues with an undocumented coal mine thought to be in the middle of the permitted City/County landfill expansion for the new Landfill #3. That expansion was to be in progress soon. The current landfill is expected to reach capacity in 2024.

A report presented by the Foth engineering firm working for the Landfill Committee, reviewed a meeting held earlier in August between the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) and its Office of Mines and Minerals, Abandoned Mine Lands / AML staff. Several steps to investigate the location and extent of the previously unknown underground coal mine are underway. IDNR plans to move forward to identify mine shaft locations and other investigations into the underground mine. Permissions and a scope of work will need to be developed. IDNR will determine the footprint and depth of the underground mine.  GFL, the waste company that is to build and operate the new Landfill #3, will need to submit a significant modification permit application to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), which regulates landfills. IEPA approval is needed before the IDNR field investigations can begin.

Another issue is whether or not the old coal mine waste piles, or ‘gob’ piles, that contain bits of coal, dirt, rock, heavy metals with those substances, and potentially other mine wastes, could be buried on site, or if they have to be hauled away for burial at another landfill location. Removal of the gob piles is expected to require removal of quite a few trees and also building new roads that could hold up to the heavy loads. Foth wants to know the locations of the gob piles and particularly where they would be buried, so they will not be near the footprint of future landfill operations. The preparatory work and permitting necessary for assessing the mine situation will require a major delay in construction of the new landfill.