FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Sidney Hill
Public Information Officer, EMNRD
sidney.hill@emnrd.nm.gov
October 27, 2023
EMNRD’s Mining and Minerals Division receives national
award for Mine Reclamation Work in New Mexico
The project used a natural channel design method to stabilize a waterway
SANTA FE, NM – The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department’s (EMNRD’s)
Mining and Minerals Division (MMD) has earned national recognition for its work in restoring
and preserving the ecosystem around a former coal mine near the town of Raton in Northern
New Mexico.
MMD’s Abandoned Mine Land Program (AML) team spearheaded the project. It is one of five
projects across the country to receive a 2023 Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Award from
the Federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE). Acting OSMRE
Director Glenda Owens presented the AML team with its 2023 Small Project Award at the
Annual Conference of the National Association of Abandoned Mine Land Programs in Chicago,
IL on September 25.
Established in 1992, the Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Awards recognize exemplary state
and Tribal reclamation projects that reclaim coal mine sites abandoned prior to the enactment
of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.
“The Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Awards honor the best examples of AML reclamation
in our nation,” Acting OSMRE Director Owens said. “Our state and Tribal partners work
diligently to address health hazards and mitigate environmental problems affecting coal
communities. These awards showcase what is possible in reinvigorating those impacted coal
communities.”
October 27, 2023
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The Small Project Award is presented to the state or Tribe that receives less than $6 million
annually in AML funding and completes a project costing less than $1 million. New Mexico’s
project was completed in 2021 at a cost of $979,786.79, ($31,217 under budget).
New Mexico’s award recognized work done to mitigate storm damage to a stream channel that
EMNRD’s AML program originally configured in 2012. At that time, AML program staff
completed work to:
• Restore land in the area by stabilizing and reclaiming an extensive series of steep and
actively eroding coal gob piles.
• Restore a straightened and deeply incised section of stream channel adjacent to the gob
piles.
The more recent work was necessary because flooding in the canyon had caused widespread
erosion to restored parts of the project area. AML program staff enlisted the help of Oxbow
Ecological Engineering and Sweatt Construction to design and build a solution to that problem.
The project partners developed a design that keeps water flow from scouring buried coal waste
in the stream banks and allows sediments to settle out and support vegetative growth. The
project also addressed erosion in the surrounding upland areas with the addition of one-rock
check dams and media lunas (rock configurations that spread out the flow of water).
“Most of the work on this project occurred during COVID restrictions in 2020 and 2021, which
made for very challenging working conditions here in New Mexico,” said Mike Tompson,
EMNRD’s AML Program Manager. “Our AML team persevered, and now the stream channel is
showing exceptional stability, vegetative growth, and unprecedented wildlife use. It has held up
through storms and has shown remarkable resiliency. We are very pleased with how this
project turned out.”
About the New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Program
The New Mexico Abandoned Mine Land Program is primarily funded through a nationwide fee
on coal production ($2.8 million per year) and well as special funding allocated through
President Biden’s 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($2.4 million per year).
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The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department provides resource protection and energy resource development services to the
public and other state agencies.
