Today, the average mine permitted by the state measures 450 acres, roughly the size of 360 football fields. Coal companies need someplace to put the huge amounts of rock and earth they dig up to get at valuable coal seams. Much of this material, which operators call spoil, is dumped into streams. It fills up and levels off hollows. Federal and state regulators require companies to compensate the public for the loss of streams covered over by valley fills.
Companies can build recreational lakes or pay the state money.
The money goes into a fund used for similar projects. Currently, coal operators must mitigate when streams filled in cover drainage areas of 250 acres or more. The bill passed by the Legislature would raise this threshold to 480 drainage acres. Companies could fill in much bigger streams without compensating for the loss. The bill was pushed by House Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, by coal industry lobbyists Bill Raney and Ben Greene and by A.T. Massey Coal lobbyist K.O. Damron.