Shamrock Mine reclamation plan submitted to DNR

The Dubois County Commissioners heard that a reclamation plan for the Shamrock Mine had been submitted to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and officials are waiting on approval to move forward with the cleanup.

Michael Costello, an independent consultant for the insurance company overseeing the situation, was hired to work through the aftermath of the 2020 bankruptcy of White Stallion Energy that closed Shamrock Mine. The bankruptcy has left landowners and the county in the lurch with limited money to mitigate damages to county roads and reclaim the land.

According to Costello, between the reclamation bonds and road bonds, they have $6.5 to $7 million available to use on the project.

“We’ve spent the better part of a year trying to figure out how to use the money available to put as much dirt back as possible,” Costello said. “With the roads being kind of an additional consideration.”

With an estimated price tag of $30 million to refill the pits left by the mining company exceeding the amount they have, he explained that they plan to leave the pits open, allowing them to fill with water. They will also work with landowners to attempt to make the pits accessible and functional with as much land reclaimed around them as possible.

The mine is bordered by Portersville Road West to the north, Country Road 800 West to the west, with County Road 580 North to the south. Two large pits exist. One is near the intersection of County Road 750 West and Country Road 580 North, and the other is south of Portersville Road West, between the intersection of County Road 750 West and County Road 700 West. Also, County Road 700 runs through a large portion of the mine and has been widened to accommodate the large mining equipment.

As the mine dug west in the pit south of Portersville Road West, the county road collapsed due to the slide-off of material into the pit. Additionally, Costello said that as White Stallion ran into financial problems, they attempted to remove as much coal from the dig as possible and continued working west through the county road.

It was closed and barricaded on both sides of the slide, essentially dead-ending the road before it reached Portersville Road West.

According to the Dubois County Highway Superintendent Steve Berg, the thought at the time was as the pit continued working west, they would backfill the pit and repair the road. “With the bankruptcy, that road is gone. We won’t be getting that road back,” he said Wednesday.

Under the plan submitted to DNR, the road will have a cul-de-sac added where it currently dead ends. “We want to make sure the farmers can get down there and access their property and still turn around,” Costello explained.

Portersville Road West is also being impacted by the collapsing bank on the north side of the same pit. Road bonds were issued for the county roads impacted by the mine. However, those bonds do not cover Portersville Road West, according to Costello. “Portersville (Road) was never supposed to be intersected by the mine, and that mine was never supposed to be cut that close to Portersville,” he explained to commissioners on Monday.

He said they will attempt to use reclamation funds to pay for the work to stop the erosion impacting the road and the historic Lemmons Church and cemetery. Under the reclamation project proposal, they will use existing concrete blocks and rock in the mine to support the bank and mitigate the continued sloughing off that could lead to the road collapsing.

Costello said the Portersville Road West repair and mitigating issues with the water quality due to oxidization of the mined material are the two top priority items on the reclamation proposal.

The county would also like County Road 700 West to be returned to its original condition. Since the mine used it to move material from the north side of the mine to the south washing station, that road was widened from about 22 to 24 feet to 50 to 60 feet wide. “That’s how they wanted to turn them back over to us,” Berg said. “We’re not interested in maintaining a road that wide. In the agreement, the road is supposed to be put back as it was prior to them taking it.”

Costello said they plan on raising 700 West using the dirt in the mine to bring it above the high water mark in the pit it runs adjacent to.

The plan also calls for them to stanchion up the pit near the intersection of County Road 800 West and County Road 580 North.

Costello acknowledged that with the mine closing and bankruptcy, the money that was held in bonds could be enough to cover the county’s needs in regard to the roads. But, it is a bit of a balancing act to use the different bonds cohesively to make it work.

“This has just been chaos because, again, this mine just got dumped,” Costello told commissioners while reiterating that he didn’t represent the bankruptcy estate for White Stallion Energy.

After which, he added that certain cash bonds created for the roads could be called back by the estate, and the county would likely have to go to court to see that money. Berg noted there are two cash bonds — one for $80,000 and another for about $170,000. The cash bonds are in addition to the existing road bonds and reclamation bonds.

The repairs to Portersville Road West, County Road 700 West and County Road 800/580 will be covered by the reclamation bonds that were issued since they are less restrictive, according to Costello.

“We are trying to get everything we can get approved by the insurance company,” Costello said, “And Steve (Berg) and I are going to look a what’s left and try to build in the remaining pieces of the road.”

He directed the commissioners to get in touch with the bankruptcy estate to negotiate with them on the cash bonds that could be used for the rest of the road work. The county has hired a bankruptcy attorney to work through the process.

In regards to the vehicles, buildings, spare parts and other processing equipment, Costello said his contract doesn’t cover that portion of the reclamation. “I’m here to move dirt,” he said. But he has been in touch with mine representatives to have those items removed. According to Costello, about two or three weeks ago, they did start cleaning up trash and taking equipment out.

“We’re are getting there,” Costello said. “It’s ugly. I understand the frustration of the community.”

Commissioner Chad Blessinger wants the public to understand it is a work in progress, and the county is doing whatever it can to move it forward. “It has just been a slow process. It is very frustrating,” he said.

At the end of Monday’s update, Costello also informed the commissioners that representatives from Peabody’s renewable energy company, R3 Renewables, had been investigating the area for a potential solar panel park project.