The Historical Context for the Alabama Surface Mining Commission has been posted from the Records Disposition Authority (RDA) approved by the State Records Commission on October 16, 2024. The RDA establishes disposition requirements by designating records as either temporary records which may be destroyed after a specified retention period, or permanent records, which must be preserved in perpetuity. The complete RDAs for close to 175 agencies can be found on the Alabama Department of Archives and History website.
Surface mining refers to the technique of extracting coal deposits found near the surface of the earth. In contrast to underground mining, which uses tunnels to access the coal deposits deep within the ground, surface mining strips away soil, rock, and vegetation (collectively referred to as overburden) to expose the shallower deposits of coal which can then be mined and hauled away.[1] Often referred to as strip mining, surface mining uses significantly less human labor than deep mining but also has a greater impact on the surrounding landscape.[2]
The earliest methods of coal mining in human history were a type of surface mining. When the Romans invaded Britain in AD 43, they discovered outcrops of the mineral which they burned in religious shrines and used as fuel for their blacksmith furnaces.[3] These coal reserves could be easily extracted from quarrying or from shallow mines. As the demand for coal increased, and the supply from these mines dwindled, coal could only be accessed by digging mines deep within the earth.[4] By the start of the Industrial Revolution, Britain had developed the underground mining techniques that would dominate the industry throughout the world over the next several centuries.[5]
While historical accounts vary, coal was likely first discovered in present-day Alabama along the territory’s rivers in 1815 by veterans of the Battle of New Orleans. Another report claims that settlers in Bibb and Shelby counties gathered small amounts of coal from exposed drifts and open pits as early as 1836. Known colloquially as “cornfield diggings,” this coal was used to heat family dwellings and as fuel for blacksmith furnaces. The first systematic coal mine in Alabama was established in 1849 by William Phineas Brown near the Montevallo area. Unlike earlier surface mining efforts, this operation utilized the underground mining techniques that would become widespread throughout Alabama over the next century.[6]
The regulation of coal mining operations in Alabama was initially the responsibility of the Office of Inspector of Mines. Created by Alabama Act 1891-266, the office was tasked with inspecting all coal mines in the state at least once every four months. These new regulations included a number of provisions aimed at enhancing mine safety, and mine operators were required to report fatal accidents to the inspector. Additionally, the Act created a board of examiners that was responsible for examining and certifying mine bosses.[7]
While underground mining had become well-established in Alabama by the late 1800s, the number of commercial surface mining operations remained stagnant well into the next century. Alabama’s Chief Mine Inspector first reported production figures for a single strip mining operation in 1914.[8] Around the same time, newspapersreported on the opening of the Sunlight Mining Company’s strip-mining operations in Walker County, noting that the new process had been used very little in Alabama but that there were “great tracts of mining land” suitable for strip mining throughout the state.[9] Despite this promising forecast, surface mining operations remained a small percentage of coal mining activity in Alabama through the late 1930s.[10] This was likely due to the lack of specialized equipment necessary for large-scale surface mining operations.[11]
Following the establishment of the Office of Inspector of Mines in 1891, regulatory oversight of the mining industry remained largely unchanged over the next several decades. With the passage of the “Industrial Relations Act of 1939,” the Offices of Chief Mine Inspector and of Associate Inspectors was dissolved and their responsibilities were transferred to the newly created Board of Mine Examiners within the Department of Industrial Relations. Despite this administrative shift, no new mining regulations were introduced at this time.[12]
Coal output from surface mining remained relatively low until the labor shortages during World War II compelled mining companies to explore less labor-intensive methods. Daily production of strip mine operations ran as high as thirty tons per worker, compared to the average of three tons a day for underground miners.[13] As a result of this increase in productivity, the number of surface mining operations grew significantly during the mid-1940s. While only 300,000 to 400,000 tons of coal were produced by strip mining in Alabama in 1943, production levels were estimated to reach more than a million tons in 1945. During this time, new surface mining operations were opened in Jefferson, Blount, and St. Clair counties, in addition to those already carried out in Walker County.[14]
In 1949, Alabama introduced its first significant mining regulations since the late 1800s with the passage of the “Alabama Coal Mine Safety Law of 1949,” which expanded health and safety measures for miners. Serious personal injuries were subject to reporting and investigation by the Department of Industrial Relations, and mine operators were required to report mine disasters to the United State Bureau of Mines. The new law also created a Board of Examiners, which consisted of the Chief or Head Mine Inspector, two active practicing miners, two operators of coal mines, and one practicing mining engineer as appointed by the governor. The Board examined applicants and gave certificates of competency to persons passing the required examinations to act as foremen or fire bosses of coal mine operations.
The passage of Act 1949-207 also marked the first time that surface mining was addressed in state regulations. Article thirteen of the Act focused on the working conditions specific to strip mining operations. For example, the formation of overburden created safety concerns not seen in traditional underground mining, and mine operators were required to ensure that working areas were free of rocks and loose materials. The new regulations also provided blasting guidelines, equipment regulations, and first aid rules specific to the practice of strip mining.
Surface mining operations continued to grow in post-war Alabama. The volume of coal produced by surface mining increased from 13 percent of total coal output in 1950 to almost 25 percent by 1960.[15] However, with this growth came increased concerns about the environmental impact of surface mining. Some operators abandoned a site after the mining was completed and left the clean up to the property owners who had leased their land to mining companies. Silt and acid mine drainage from the mining sites polluted creeks and rivers and endangered fish and other aquatic life. In addition, the post-mining condition of the land could not sustain vegetation due to the removal of overburden during the mining process.[16]
The Alabama Surface Mining Act of 1969 (Act 1969-399) was passed by the legislature and was seen as a major step in surface mining regulation with respect to these environmental concerns. It provided for reclamation and revegetation of land affected by surface mining and called for the issuance of permits for surface mining operations.[17]
By the mid-1970s, strip mining accounted for almost two-thirds of the state’s coal production.[18] As the number of surface mining operations continued to increase and their environmental impact became more apparent, lawmakers sought to enact more legislation to further strengthen mining regulations. While the 1969 Act required mining operators to apply for a permit, it did not grant the Department of Industrial Relations the power to deny an application or to revoke a mining license if an operator was not working within the rules. In addition, there were concerns that the bond amount collected from the mining companies was not adequate to cover the costs of reclamation if the companies failed to finish the process.[19]
As a result, the legislature, anticipating tougher federal legislation, passed the Alabama Surface Mining Reclamation Act of 1975 (Act 1975-551). Section four of that act created the Surface Mining Reclamation Commission (SMRC) and made it independent of the Department of Industrial Relations, with members being appointed by the governor. The Act repealed the 1969 Act and strengthened the regulation affecting surface mining.
The Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) created the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) in the United States Department of the Interior.[20] SMCRA created a framework for OSMRE to prevent significant environmental damage from surface coal mining by directly enforcing mining regulations and reclamation efforts. The Act also provided the authority to OSMRE to oversee the implementation of and provide federal funding for state regulatory agencies which been approved by the Secretary of the Interior as meeting the minimum standards specified by SMCRA.
In response to the passage of SMCRA in 1977, the Alabama legislature passed the Alabama Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1981 (Act 1981-435). This act renamed the SMRC as the Alabama Surface Mining Commission (ASMC) and gave the Commission the power to implement and enforce the provisions of the Act and gave it more controls over surface mining and land reclamation.
Today, the Alabama Surface Mining Commission continues to oversee the safe and prudent mining of Alabama’s coal resources and regulate the coal mining industry to mitigate adverse environmental impacts. As of 2023, there are twenty-nine active-producing coal mining operations in the state with production concentrated in five Alabama counties: Cullman, DeKalb, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Walker.[21]
[1] Surface mining is used to retrieve a variety of other minerals including sand, gravel, stones, and iron.
[2] EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency), “Basic Information about Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia.” Last modified on October 16, 2023. https://www.epa.gov/sc-mining/basic-information-about-surface-coal-mining-appalachia. Strip mining is one of the five different types of surface mining, which also includes open-pit mining, mountaintop removal, dredging, and highwall mining.
[3] An outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the earth.
[4] Barbara Freese, Coal: A Human History (New York: Basic Books, 2003), 15-27.
[5] Mark Cartwright, “Coal Mining in the British Industrial Revolution.” World History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 17, 2023. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2201/coal-mining-in-the-british-industrial-revolution/.
[6] James Sanders Day, Diamonds in the Rough: A History of Alabama’s Cahaba Coal Field (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2013), 6-7.
[7] Alabama Act 1891-266. Mine bosses were responsible for examining mines for dangers.
[8] State of Alabama State Mine Inspector’s Annual Report, 1914.
[9] “Stripping Mine Will Be Open,” The Leighton News, September 30, 1915.
[10] State of Alabama State Mine Inspector’s Annual Reports, 1915-1939.
[11] “Coal Progress Spotlighted at Cleveland Convention,” Coal Age 52 (1947): 102-103.
[12] Alabama Act 1939-161.
[13] Strip Mining Growing Daily in Importance, The Birmingham Post, July 20, 1944.
[14] “Strip Mining to Increase Output”, The Decatur Daily, Monday, August 14, 1944.
[15] Woodrum, Robert H. Everyone Was Black Down There: Race and Industrial Change in the Alabama Coalfields (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007), 156.
[16] Woodrum, Everyone Was Black Down There, 187.
[17] Reclamation is the process that modifies land that has been mined to make it ecologically functional or economically usable again.
[18] Woodrum, Everyone Was Black Down There, 187.
[19] Anne Plott, “New Mining Law Seen as Too Weak,” The Anniston Star, October 1, 1970.
[20] Public Law 95-87, 30 U.S.C. § 1200.
[21] U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Birmingham Field Office, Annual Evaluation Report for the Regulatory and Abandoned Mine Land Programs Administered by the State of Alabama (Alabama, August 2023), 8.
- Representatives of the Alabama Surface Mining Commission
- Alabama Acts 1891-266, 1939-161, 1949-207, 1969-399, 1975-511, 1981-210
- Alabama Administrative Code Chapters 880-X-1A through 880-X-12A
- Code of Alabama, 1975 § 9-16-1 through 9-16-107
- 30 U.S.C. § 1200
- Cartwright, Mark. “Coal Mining in the British Industrial Revolution.” World History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 17, 2023. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2201/ coal-mining-in-the-british-industrial-revolution/.
- “Coal Progress Spotlighted at Cleveland Convention.” Coal Age 52 (1947): 97-107.
- Day, James Sanders, Diamonds in the Rough: A History of Alabama’s Cahaba Coal Field. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2013.
- EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency), “Basic Information about Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia.” Last modified on October 16, 2023. https://www.epa.gov/sc-mining/basic-information-about-surface-coal-mining-appalachia.
- Freese, Barbara. Coal: A Human History. New York: Basic Books, 2003.
- Plott, Anne, “New Mining Law Seen as Too Weak,” The Anniston Star, October 1, 1970.
- State of Alabama State Mine Inspector’s Annual Reports, 1914-1939.
- “Strip Mining Growing Daily in Importance,” The Birmingham Post, July 20, 1944.
- “Strip Mining to Increase Output,” The Decatur Daily, August 14, 1944.
- “Stripping Mine Will Be Open,” The Leighton News, September 30, 1915.
- U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Birmingham Field Office, Annual Evaluation Report for the Regulatory and Abandoned Mine Land Programs Administered by the State of Alabama. Alabama, August 2023.
- Woodrum, Robert H. Everyone Was Black Down There: Race and Industrial Change in the Alabama Coalfields. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007.
For the Record 