Surface coal mine permit application for successful reclamation, semi-arid shortgrass prairie (Wyoming, USA)

Waitkus, Anna Krzyszowska

doi:10.1007/s40789-017-0187-9

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 12 publications

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“…Timely reclamation following disturbances to land and vegetation is the key to ensuring green mining and sustainable mining [41]. At the national level, it is also hoped that mining and reclamation can be conducted concurrently [42].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping Annual Land Disturbance and Reclamation in a Surface Coal Mining Region Using Google Earth Engine and the LandTrendr Algorithm: A Case Study of the Shengli Coalfield in Inner Mongolia, China

Xiao

Deng

et al. 2020

Remote Sensing

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The development and utilization of mining resources are basic requirements for social and economic development. Both open-pit mining and underground mining have impacts on land, ecology, and the environment. Of these, open-pit mining is considered to have the greatest impact due to the drastic changes wrought on the original landform and the disturbance to vegetation. As awareness of environmental protection has grown, land reclamation has been included in the mining process. In this study, we used the Shengli Coalfield in the eastern steppe region of Inner Mongolia to demonstrate a mining and reclamation monitoring process. We combined the Google Earth Engine platform with time series Landsat images and the LandTrendr algorithm to identify and monitor mining disturbances to grassland and land reclamation in open-pit mining areas of the coalfield between 2003 and 2019. Pixel-based trajectories were used to reconstruct the temporal evolution of vegetation, and sequential Landsat archive data were used to achieve accurate measures of disturbances to vegetation. The results show that: (1) the proposed method can be used to determine the years in which vegetation disturbance and recovery occurred with accuracies of 86.53% and 78.57%, respectively; (2) mining in the Shengli mining area resulted in the conversion of 89.98 km2 of land from grassland, water, etc., to barren earth, and only 23.54 km2 was reclaimed, for a reclamation rate of 26.16%; and (3) the method proposed in this paper can achieve fast, efficient identification of surface mining land disturbances and reclamation, and has the potential to be applied to other similar areas.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping Annual Land Disturbance and Reclamation in a Surface Coal Mining Region Using Google Earth Engine and the LandTrendr Algorithm: A Case Study of the Shengli Coalfield in Inner Mongolia, China

Xiao

Deng

et al. 2020

Remote Sensing

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Sustainable reclamation practices for a large surface coal mine in shortgrass prairie, semiarid environment (Wyoming, USA): case study

Waitkus¹

2022

Int J Coal Sci Technol

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Sustainable reclamation practices for large surface coal mines in USA semiarid environment contribute to the quality of the environmental on a long term basis where environmental resources are protected for future generation. Land, after reclamation, must be suitable for the previous use of greatest economic or social values to the community area. In the semiarid climate of USA, non-developed land is mainly utilized for crops, grazing, and wildlife. Completion of various stages of the reclamation processes includes verification and approval of reclamation criteria and performance standards created by state agencies. The sustainable reclamation practices were investigated at the USA’s largest surface coal mine of the semiarid environment in Wyoming. These practices include building post-mining topography to the approximate original contour and reestablish a stable hydrologic system to drain surface water. All available spoil material is backfilled and graded to achieve the post-mining topography which closely resembles the pre-mining topography. No overburden material or other coal waste material is left in stockpiles at the mine. Detailed planning until the end of mining, the knowledge of available volumes of suitable backfill material and soil is necessary for sustainable management practices. Diverse and permanent vegetation capable of stabilizing soil surfaces and capable of self-regeneration is established. Sustainable management of the reclamation effort is achieved by enforcement processes developed by the state and federal agencies. Monthly inspections of mining and reclamation operations and reviews of annual reports submitted by the operator help determine if the reclamation processes are occurring according to the permit plan.

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Mine completion criteria defined by best-practice: A global meta-analysis and Western Australian case studies

Manero

Standish

Young

2021

Journal of Environmental Management

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Surface coal mine permit application for successful reclamation, semi-arid shortgrass prairie (Wyoming, USA)

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Mapping Annual Land Disturbance and Reclamation in a Surface Coal Mining Region Using Google Earth Engine and the LandTrendr Algorithm: A Case Study of the Shengli Coalfield in Inner Mongolia, China

Mapping Annual Land Disturbance and Reclamation in a Surface Coal Mining Region Using Google Earth Engine and the LandTrendr Algorithm: A Case Study of the Shengli Coalfield in Inner Mongolia, China

Sustainable reclamation practices for a large surface coal mine in shortgrass prairie, semiarid environment (Wyoming, USA): case study

Mine completion criteria defined by best-practice: A global meta-analysis and Western Australian case studies

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