Colorado will get nearly $10 million from the federal government to combat abandoned coal mine fires, officials announced this week.
The decision comes after authorities say they are investigating abandoned coal mines as a possible cause to the Marshall fire that burned more than 1,100 homes and businesses in suburbs north of Denver. The investigation into the most destructive fire in state history is also looking at power lines, human activity and other possibilities.
The funds are part of the federal governmentap plan to put $11.3 billion towards reclaiming and cleaning up abandoned mine lands over the next 15 years, the Department of Interior said in a news release Tuesday.
At least 259 underground mine fires burned in more than a dozen states as of last September, according to federal Office of Surface Mining data. There are hundreds and possibly thousands more undocumented blazes burning in coal seams that have never been mined, researchers and government officials say.
These fires emit toxic mercury and the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, and cause sinkholes when the ground’s surface collapses into burned cavities below. The estimated future cost to control 200 known abandoned mine blazes across the U.S. is almost $900 million, according to the Office of Surface Mining database.
