The legacy of strip coal mining persists in Southern Illinois. The demand for energy represented by coal made the farmland on the surface far less valuable than the minerals underneath. The introduction of powerful strip mining machines, the lure of the industry as employment, the power of the coal companies in demanding lax environmental standards all led to a despoliation of the countryside. Then, the price of coal collapsed, replaced by cheaper energy sources.

In the 1970s, environmentalists and residents of coal country worked to pass federal and state legislation that required mining companies to restore mined land to the quality it had been originally.

Surface Mining Reclamation Act

Earthfirst, a self-described radical environmental group, protests what they see as destruction of the land.

The Wise Use movement takes a very different view from most present-day environmentalists.
Slack Pile (coal spoils) Herrin, Illinois, Arthur Rothstein 1939 FSA/OWI, Library of Congress.
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