Once and Future Coal Mine: Illinois’ Largest State Park

By JoshMogerman in News on Jun 18, 2011 7:00PM

Can you name Illinois’ biggest state park? Pyramid State Park probably isn’t on your radar, but at nearly 20,000 acres it’s the Land of Lincoln’s largest. Despite being surrounded by flat land, the Perry County park has a uniquely hilly character because much of it was once strip-mined and used for coal waste dumping. And if the Illinois General Assembly gets its way, it will be again.

The Legislature has sent a bill to Governor Quinn’s desk that would lease a chunk of the park as a staging and dumping ground for a new coal strip mine just over Pyramid’s border. The mine would also dig underneath the park itself. Once the mine is exhausted, the mining company will “restore” and donate the adjacent land to the park. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has taken a neutral stance on the bill, but many worry it sets us down a slippery slope:

"If we hang a 'For Sale' sign on our state parks, we will get lots of offers, and none of them are what we had in mind when we protected them for future generations," said Jack Darin of the Sierra Club's Illinois chapter. "There's a very strong historic precedent for not allowing this kind of extraction on our state lands."

There is a similar debate going on in Ohio, where the Department of Justice attempted to stop a coal company from digging under at state park for fear of water impacts and the likelihood of sink holes.

As the State grapples with a multibillion-dollar deficit, the General Assembly is looking for cash wherever they can get it. Perhaps the parks can help fill the hole? Highest, best use be damned. How much can we get by selling Starved Rock to the gravel companies? Pack up the beavers, bison, and turkeys from Beaver Dam, Buffalo Rock, and Turkey Bluffs State Parks and sell ‘em to a roadside zoo? Rent out Devil’s Island State Park as a giant haunted house (it sounds scary anyway)? Couldn't we sell off part of Giant City State Park and still have a pretty big city state park?

We want your suggestions for the other ways the General Assembly can make sure our state parks pull their weight...