Land Reclamation Program
Land Reclamation Commission
Members | Meetings | Minutes | More Information
The Missouri Land Reclamation Commission is the ruling body over Missouri’s mining issues set forth in three separate state statues. These mining statues protect public health, safety and the environment from the adverse effect of mining and assure the beneficial restoration of mined lands. The seven-member commission includes three statutory and four public members. The statutory members are the state geologist, the director of the Missouri Department of Conservation and the staff director of the Clean Water Commission. With Senate approval, the governor appoints four public members. Only one member of the commission may have a direct link with the mining industry. The Land Reclamation Program carries out the policies of the Missouri Land Reclamation Commission and provides the staffing necessary to regulate the states mining industry.
The Land Reclamation Commission and Program are responsible for the issuance of strip mining permits related to the mining of limestone, sand, gravel, clay, tar sands, barite, sandstone, granite and traprock. As part of the permitting process mining companies must provide financial assurances to the Land Reclamation Program that provide for reclamation should the company not be able to complete this activity. After the mining company completes all required reclamation, the Commission releases these financial assurances and relieves the companies of any further reclamation liabilities. The Commission decides when public hearings are necessary. Hearings may be granted with respect to a proposed mining permit or when enforcement of a mining permit becomes necessary.
The Commission also oversees Missouri’s Abandoned Mine Land program. This program provides for the reclamation of abandoned coal mine sites within the state that include safety hazards such as steep and unstable highwalls and embankments, open mine shafts, abandoned mining equipment and facilities, dangerous impoundments, unsanitary trash dumps, and subsidence. Eligible environmental problems consist of acid mine drainage and sedimentation that pollute and clog streams. Finally, Missouri’s abandoned mine land emergency program allows the Land Reclamation Program to abate or control emergency situations in which adverse effects of past coal mining pose an immediate danger to the public.
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Land Reclamation Commission chair Jim DiPardo helped create fish habitat at Meramec Spring State Park. More... |
Land Reclamation Commission Members
- James M. DiPardo; Chairman, Owner/Operator of Rosati Sandstone, Industry Representative, St. James
- Dr. Gregory Haddock; Vice Chairman, Associate Professor of Geography, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville
- Dr. Leslie Gertsch, Associate Professor of Geological Engineering, Missouri University of Science & Technology , Rock Mechanics & Explosives Research Center, Rolla
- Aaron Jeffries; Department of Conservation, Designee, Legislative Liason, Jefferson City
- Joe Gillman; Director, Division of Geology and Land Survey and State Geologist, Department of Natural Resources, Rolla
- John Madras; Acting Staff Director, Clean Water Commission, Department of Natural Resources, Jefferson City
- Vacancy
- Ronald G. Dumey; Acting Staff Director, Land Reclamation Commission, Department of Natural Resources, Jefferson City
Upcoming Meetings |
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Feb. 7, 2012 |
10 a.m. Land Reclamation Conference Call Commission Meeting Moniteau Bluffs Conference Room 1st Floor Lewis & Clark State Office Building  1101 Riverside Drive Jefferson City, MO 65101 |
| Call 573-751-4041 for more information about meetings. | |
For copies of minutes before 2008, please email the Land Reclamation Program or call
573-751-4041 or 800-361-4827.
More Information
Call 573-751-4041 for more information.