Higher Reclamation Bonds For Coal Mines

• {Frankfort, Kentucky}...Under an emergency rule filed by state regulators Friday, the state Energy and Environment Cabinet announced coal companies will have to post higher reclamation bonds for surface mines. Companies must post bonds with the state so that, if the company goes out of business or fails to reclaim strip-mined land, there will be money available for the state to pay a contractor to do it. Environmentalists and others have long complained that the bond amounts the state required were too low to cover the actual cost of reclamation in many cases.