Spurring Clean Energy Development on Reclaimed Mine Lands | Article

Across the country, there are an estimated half a million abandoned mines that once produced coal, ores, and minerals but now pose significant risks to human health and the environment. Left unremediated, abandoned mines can leak heavy metals and toxic chemicals into local ecosystems. Additionally, abandoned coal mines emit methane—a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

The passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (P.L. 117-58) offers a unique opportunity to redevelop former mine land sites into clean energy hubs. The IIJA authorized a $500 million program to construct clean energy demonstration projects—such as solar, microgrid, geothermal, direct air capture, carbon capture, energy storage, and nuclear projects—on current or former mine lands. The program will also support the Justice40 Initiative, which aims to deliver 40 percent of specific federal investments to disadvantaged communities. On June 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a request for information to help set up the program.

The benefits of such an effort could be felt most strongly in regions like Appalachia that once boasted prosperous mining industries. In a report that lays out opportunities for solar on mine lands in West Virginia, The Nature Conservancy estimates that over 400,000 acres of mine lands and brownfield sites across central Appalachia could be reclaimed for solar generation, offering the potential to double the current solar capacity in the United States. Across the country, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified 17,756 current and former mine land sites spread out across 1.5 million acres—an area twice the size of Rhode Island—suitable for renewable energy development. These sites could provide 89 gigawatts of renewable energy, enough to power about 6.7 million homes.

Other contaminated sites such as brownfields, Superfunds (highly polluted lands), and landfills can also be remediated and repurposed for renewable energy generation. The RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative is an EPA program “that encourages renewable energy development on current and former contaminated lands, landfills, and mine sites when such a development is aligned with the community’s vision for the site.” The program runs a mapping tool that has identified 190,000 contaminated sites suitable for renewable energy generation located in every state across the country.

In many cases, contaminated lands have existing infrastructure that make them ideal for renewable energy generation. According to The Nature Conservancy, these sites are often accessible by existing roads and located near substations and power lines for easy connections to the electric grid. This has the potential to reduce development costs and timeframes. Redeveloping contaminated lands with renewable energy also minimizes land-use conflicts. Using lands that have already been developed and are often unsuitable for other projects can help avoid further infringement upon sensitive ecosystems. Furthermore, generating renewable energy on contaminated land is compatible with other uses such as ecosystem restoration and conservation activities that can sequester carbon.

Redeveloping contaminated lands into renewable energy hubs could provide new jobs and revenue streams. For example, a landfill in Greenfield, Massachusetts, was transformed into a two-megawatt solar installation. In the process, 50 local construction jobs were created. In the United States, solar installers are the one of the fastest-growing occupations, representing over 333,000 U.S. jobs in 2021. Local communities could also benefit from jobs in other sectors as renewable energy development is predicted to attract new employers and industries. This could help revitalize underemployed communities or communities overburdened by pollution, bolstering a just transition away from fossil fuels.

While the IIJA provides support for clean energy demonstration projects on current or former mine lands, similar projects have already broken ground across the country. As of 2021, more than 459 renewable energy projects have been installed on reclaimed land in 46 states and territories providing 1.9 gigawatts of energy, according to the RE-Powering America’s Land Initiative mapping tool—and many more projects are planned for the coming years.

Renewable energy projects on reclaimed mine lands. Image credit: EPA

As federal agencies advance this work, non-governmental organizations are also seeing the opportunity to invest in the future of former mine lands. In 2020, The Nature Conservancy purchased 253,000 acres of land in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky with 13,000 acres of abandoned coal mines. The organization is partnering with solar developers Sun Tribe and Sol Systems to install solar energy on the former mine lands. The remaining land, an important area for climate resilience, will be protected and restored.

According to The Nature Conservancy’s director of nature and economy programs, Eriks Brolis, “The world is moving toward a low-carbon future. Solar energy is an important opportunity for historically coal-producing regions like the Central Appalachians to continue serving as domestic energy powerhouses. Policies that incentivize the development of robust clean energy supply chains in these communities will help ensure the maximum benefit to people and nature.”

Authors: Savannah Bertrand and Christina Pelliccio