In July, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality awarded its 2021 Excellence in Mining Reclamation award to Antelope Coal for its reclamation work to reconstruct Spring Creek, which neighbors the mine site near Douglas.
The Antelope team, the agency said, reconstructed over 18,000 linear feet of Spring Creek, a tributary of Antelope Creek, to reconnect the two creeks. The work will restore the original path of the creek and help to re-establish species, including birds, reptiles and mammals.
“Antelope Coal redirected Spring Creek around the mine for several years to allow for the mining of coal in the area,” the Wyoming DEQ said. “But before the company did so, employees conducted extensive studies of the creek and used the data collected at that time to inform the later reconstruction of Spring Creek.”
The Antelope mine encompasses more than 22,500 acres in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin region.