Earth Protect Blog

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 Dec. 30 fire that burned more than 1,100 homes and businesses in Boulder County. 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 government’s plan to put $11.3 billion toward 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 September, according to federal Office of Surface Mining data. There are 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. They cause sinkholes when the ground’s surface collapses.

— The Associated Press