.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} tr.d0 td { background-color: #ccccff; color: black; }
No wonder those big-time national coal experts had such blank expressions when I asked them about Iowa coal mining a few months ago. It turns out Iowa hasn’t had any active coal mines for the past 14 years. I really should have kept up my subscription to Anthracite Illustrated.

So Todd Coffelt, the newly appointed chief of the state’s Mines and Minerals Bureau, has gypsum, limestone, sand and gravel on his hands, but when it comes to coal, his only duty is to fill up the spots where the surface mines used to be.

Plus the occasional sinkhole, which we’ll leave for later. Because there’s nothing like the anticipation of a sinkhole.

When it became cheaper to ship a ton of coal to Ames from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin than from Knoxville, Coffelt said, that was the end of Iowa coal mining. Blame it on sulfur. Iowa’s coal is high in sulfur and needs to be washed to meet modern environmental standards, and apparently washing coal is as big a hassle as you would expect.

Iowa’s last coal mine closed in 1994, a surface mine that was one of 278 such operations regulated by the state down through the years. However, Coffelt’s bureau, which is part of the Iowa Department of Agriculture’s Division of Soil Conservation, also hears about small mines, surface or underground, previously below the regulators’ radar. He calls them “mom and pop” coal mines – and right there’s a fresh idea for an activity you and your spouse can share when there’s nothing on TV.

About 12,000 acres of former coal mining sites still need reclamation work in Iowa, mostly southeast of Des Moines. As you should have learned in school, some truly serious global warming stopped the last glaciers in Central Iowa. According to Coffelt, the state Capitol sits on a terminal moraine, which is a pile of rocks left behind when a glacier loses all of its ambition. The glaciers melted, and the resulting water washed away the top layer of southeast Iowa, placing the surface a lot closer to the coal.

Marion and Mahaska counties had 80 percent of the state’s surface mines, Coffelt said. If you pay attention, you can see the remnants while driving on Iowa Highway 92, or at least you could if you had Coffelt riding shotgun and pointing.

The state gets financial help with its reclamation efforts from fees imposed on current coal production across the nation. Our share has been $1.6 million annually, but it’s headed up to $3 million in coming years.

But the most exciting detail about old coal mines comes from the underground category. Now and then they collapse, creating major depressions up above. The technical term for this is subsidence, which might not be the first word to pop out of your mouth if it happened under your patio.

Coffelt said it takes about 100 years for a “room and pillar” mine to start collapsing. Guess how old the mines underneath Des Moines are? Let’s just say you should keep a cell phone – and maybe a long coil of rope – with you at all times.

But we promised Coffelt we wouldn’t get all alarmist, so please note that his staff only gets about a dozen inquiries every year from the entire state about possible subsidence events.

On the other hand, we’re trying to sell papers, so we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the nearly bizarre 25-foot-square hole that opened up in Oskaloosa, or the possibly terrifying 25-foot-deep hole in Agency.

Even though Iowa is done with coal mining, Coffelt said the state has 1,100 active mines producing the aforementioned gypsum, limestone, sand and gravel.

And as Dallas County knows, even a simple gravel quarry can stir up controversy and demand government attention.

“There’s a big push right now in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids and Council Bluffs,” Coffelt said. These cities have some nice limestone lying around, and “companies are trying to mine it before people start living on it.”