October 30, 2023 |
Photo – AML works on filling mine shafts beneath Hanna Football Field – Courtesy WY DEQ
*** Note *** AML used approximately 30,000 cubic yards of special grouting mix under the Hanna Football Field. That is enough to fill 8 Olympic size swimming pools and then some, according to Google.com. See article at https://deq.wyoming.gov/2023/03/deqs-aml-staff-work-to-improve-safety-throughout-hanna/.
The state’s Abandoned Mine Land division is nearly done filling voids under Hanna.
Over a century of coal extraction has left the ground beneath the town of Hanna honeycombed with tunnels. The mines have begun to collapse into themselves, leaving voids on the surface called subsidence.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Abandoned Mine Land division has been tasked with finding and filling the underground cavities. Over the summer, AML was working on two projects in town. One project was to fill voids under the northwest portion of Hanna, called old town. The second project was to reinforce County Road 297, between Highway 30 and Elmo.
AML Program Manager Dave Pendleton said the old town project is completed. Pendleton also said the County Road 297 project is nearly done. Speaking to Bigfoot99 on Friday, the AML program manager said the contractor, Howard Concrete Pumping, out of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, should be finished today.
Pendleton said CR 297 will be reopened to traffic as soon as the county commissioners and Hanna officials are satisfied with the job.
Pendleton said the contractor pumped over 30,000 cubic yards of a special grouting mixture under CR 297 to shore up the road surface. The AML program director said the amount of material used was large, but not entirely unexpected.
Pendleton said the old town and County Road 297 projects are the last mine filling projects AML has planned for Hanna. However, Pendleton said his department will return to town if more voids open on the surface.
AML isn’t finished in Hanna. Pendelton said several freshwater wells were blocked off when the mines were being filled. Pendleton said Abandoned Mine Land has replaced one well and will drill another next year.
Pendleton said most of the mine workings on the west side of Hanna are filled. The AML program manager said the remaining mines are far enough underground that a collapse is unlikely to reach the surface.
If all goes according to plan, Pendleton said County Road 297 will reopen to traffic in a week or two.
