Danger
Call 911 first when any of this is true
A person, a child or an animal has fallen in, or could fall in before help arrives. A hole has opened in a road, a sidewalk, a school yard or anywhere the public walks or drives. A building is moving or cracking fast, or its gas or water line has broken. You smell gas, or smoke or steam is coming out of the ground, which can mean a fire in the old workings. Anyone has gone into an opening.
Keep everyone and every vehicle well back from the edge. A subsidence hole widens, and the ground around it is already undermined. The air in an old working can kill in a minute, and rescue is for trained teams with breathing equipment. The federal mine safety agency says it in the three words of its Stay Out, Stay Alive campaign.
In order
Who to call, in what order
- Step 1. 911, if anyone is in dangerFire and rescue come to a hole with a person in it or a road giving way. They also know the gas utility and the public works crew for the street.
- Step 2. The gas company and the water utility, if a line runs near the holeA gas smell means leave the house and telephone from outside. A broken water main keeps washing soil into the hole and makes it grow.
- Step 3. The state abandoned mine land programThis is the office funded to deal with exactly this, and it closes an emergency opening at no charge to the owner. The table below gives the office and the number in every state that has one. West Virginia lists what to have ready: a description of the problem, the address with the municipality and the county, the name and number of the owner, and directions to the site.
- Step 4. The land manager, if the ground is federalThe Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service or the National Park Service, named below.
- Step 5. Your insurer, the same dayReport it before anything is repaired. In the eight states with a mine subsidence program the claim goes through your own agent; elsewhere the earth movement exclusion will be the first thing read back to you, so get the refusal in writing.
- Step 6. The county emergency management office and the road authorityFor a hole in a road or a right of way, the body that maintains it has to close it. Your county or town emergency management office keeps the record of the event.
- Step 7. A geotechnical engineerBefore any repair. The first question will be how fast the hole grew, so measure it, write the date on the measurement and keep measuring.
Do and do not
What to do at the opening while you wait
| Do this | Why |
|---|---|
| Keep back from the edge | The ground around a subsidence hole is already undermined and the edge is the next thing to go |
| Keep dogs and children away | An animal that goes in cannot be followed |
| Do not enter, even a few feet | Old workings hold air with no oxygen and gases you cannot smell; people die in the first minute |
| Do not fill it yet | The state program needs to see it, and fill goes down with the next collapse |
| Photograph it with something for scale | A tape, a shovel or a person at a safe distance |
| Write down the date and the time | The insurer and the engineer both ask when it began |
| Measure it and keep measuring | How fast it grows is the first engineering question |
| Shut off the gas if the line may be involved and you know how | Otherwise leave it to the utility, from outside the house |
The warnings
Signs worth reporting before anything opens
| Sign | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Doors and windows that stop closing | The frame is moving with the ground |
| New cracks running at an angle across a wall | Settlement cracks run straight; subsidence cracks run diagonally |
| A floor, a drive or a lawn that dips | The sag of a room collapsing below, often before any hole |
| A sudden wet patch, or a well that goes dry | Water finding a new way down into the workings |
| Orange or rust colored water running out of the ground | Drainage from old workings, a sign they are near |
| Warm ground, snow that melts first in one place, a smell of sulfur | A fire in the old workings on coal ground |
| A round dip in a field with no other cause | An old shaft whose cap has begun to fail |
All 52
The office to call in each state
| State | Office | Number or what the page says |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Alabama Department of Labor, Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation | Through the Department of Labor inspections division |
| Alaska | Alaska DNR Division of Mining, Land and Water, Abandoned Mine Lands | Division of Mining, Land and Water, for historic mines of any type |
| Arizona | Arizona State Mine Inspector, Abandoned Mines | The State Mine Inspector inventories and secures abandoned openings |
| Arkansas | Arkansas DEQ Coal Program (abandoned coal mine reclamation) | Main office in Fort Smith |
| California | California Department of Conservation, Abandoned Mine Lands Unit | The unit covers abandoned mines in all 58 counties, about two thirds of them on federal land |
| Colorado | DRMS Inactive Mine Reclamation Program | Subsidence emergency line 1-800-44MINES or 303-866-3567 |
| Connecticut | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your town emergency management director | Connecticut Geological Survey (DEEP), Connecticut Bedrock Mining Sites Database is the state page on its old workings |
| Delaware | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Delaware Geological Survey is the state page on its old workings |
| District of Columbia | No state abandoned mine land program; tell the District emergency management agency | No state survey page on mines either; the federal offices below hold the records |
| Florida | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Florida DEP Mining and Mitigation Program is the state page on its old workings |
| Georgia | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Georgia EPD Surface Mining and Georgia Geologic Survey maps is the state page on its old workings |
| Hawaii | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | No state survey page on mines either; the federal offices below hold the records |
| Idaho | Idaho Department of Lands, Abandoned Mine Lands | Location questions go to the nearest Department of Lands supervisory area |
| Illinois | Illinois DNR Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Division | One Natural Resources Way, Springfield |
| Indiana | DNR Division of Reclamation, Abandoned Mine Problems | 812-665-2207, or AbandonedMinesRestoration@dnr.IN.gov |
| Iowa | Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation | Mines and Minerals Bureau, mostly southeast Iowa coal |
| Kansas | KDHE Abandoned Mine Land Program | The program runs a separate emergency program for sudden hazards |
| Kentucky | Division of Abandoned Mine Lands, regional offices and emergency contact | Emergency line 1 (877) 495-9552 where life or property is in danger |
| Louisiana | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your parish office of homeland security and emergency preparedness | Louisiana Geological Survey (LSU) is the state page on its old workings |
| Maine | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Maine Geological Survey, Maine Mineral Resources database and map is the state page on its old workings |
| Maryland | MDE Abandoned Mine Lands Division | Allegany and Garrett Counties, the only coal counties |
| Massachusetts | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your town or city emergency management office | Massachusetts Geological Survey, Mineral Resources is the state page on its old workings |
| Michigan | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | EGLE GeoWebFace is the state page on its old workings |
| Minnesota | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Minnesota DNR Underground Mine Mapping Project is the state page on its old workings |
| Mississippi | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | MDEQ Office of Geology, Mining and Reclamation Division is the state page on its old workings |
| Missouri | Missouri DNR Land Reclamation Program, Abandoned Mine Lands (PUB2066) | Land Reclamation Program, coal mine land abandoned before 1977 |
| Montana | Montana DEQ Abandoned Mine Lands | Project manager numbers on the page, 406 444-6458 among them |
| Nebraska | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Conservation and Survey Division, University of Nebraska, Geological and Mineral Resources is the state page on its old workings |
| Nevada | Nevada Division of Minerals, Abandoned Mine Lands | Sean Derby, 775-684-7047, sderby@minerals.nv.gov, with an incident report form on the page |
| New Hampshire | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | New Hampshire Geological Survey (DES) is the state page on its old workings |
| New Jersey | New Jersey Geological and Water Survey, Mine Hazard and Resources Program | The survey program for the Highlands iron district |
| New Mexico | EMNRD Mining and Minerals Division, Abandoned Mine Land Program | Contact the program; a mine on private land needs a notarized Consent to Entry form |
| New York | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | NYS DEC, NY State Mines and Wells map is the state page on its old workings |
| North Carolina | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | North Carolina Geological Survey is the state page on its old workings |
| North Dakota | North Dakota Public Service Commission, Abandoned Mine Lands | The commission asks anyone building in a historic lignite mining town to call first |
| Ohio | ODNR Division of Mineral Resources Management, Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Programs | minerals@dnr.ohio.gov |
| Oklahoma | Oklahoma Conservation Commission, Land Restoration (Abandoned Mine Land) | Report an Abandoned Mine form on the page |
| Oregon | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | DOGAMI Oregon Historical Mining Information, large format mine maps is the state page on its old workings |
| Pennsylvania | DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Report an AML Emergency | Ebensburg district office 814-472-1800 for the bituminous region, Wilkes-Barre 570-826-2371 for the anthracite region, after hours 800-541-2050 |
| Puerto Rico | No abandoned mine land program; tell your municipal emergency management office | The island has no underground mines, so a hole there is far more likely karst, and the USGS Karst Map of Puerto Rico (Open File Report 2010-1104) shows where the limestone is |
| Rhode Island | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your town or city emergency management office | No state survey page on mines either; the federal offices below hold the records |
| South Carolina | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | South Carolina Geological Survey (SCDNR), Mineral Resources is the state page on its old workings |
| South Dakota | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | South Dakota DANR Minerals and Mining Program is the state page on its old workings |
| Tennessee | TDEC Abandoned Mine Lands Program | Through the Division of Mineral and Geologic Resources |
| Texas | Railroad Commission of Texas, Abandoned Mine Land Program | Surface Mining division; it backfills, caps or gates dangerous openings |
| Utah | Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program | Questions by email during office hours, 8 to 5 on weekdays |
| Vermont | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Vermont Geological Survey, Sand, Gravel and Mineral Resources is the state page on its old workings |
| Virginia | Virginia Energy, Abandoned Mine Land Program | Mined Land Repurposing office, 3405 Mountain Empire Road, Big Stone Gap |
| Washington | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Washington Geological Survey, Coal Mine Map Collection is the state page on its old workings |
| West Virginia | WV DEP Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation, Report an Emergency or Complaint | Have ready the description, the address with municipality and county, the owner and directions |
| Wisconsin | No state abandoned mine land program; tell your county emergency management office | Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, Mining is the state page on its old workings |
| Wyoming | Wyoming DEQ Abandoned Mine Land Division | 307-777-6145 for a hazardous condition; 1-800-510-0283 to ask whether a property is over a mined area |
Public ground
On federal land
An open shaft or adit on public land is reported to the agency that manages it. The Bureau of Land Management Abandoned Mine Lands program covers abandoned hard rock mines on public land in the western states. The Forest Service Abandoned Mine Lands program restores land disturbed by historic mining on the 188 million acres of national forest. The National Park Service Abandoned Mineral Lands program keeps the inventory of about 38,000 abandoned mineral land features inside the parks. Where the problem is contamination rather than a hole, the EPA Superfund abandoned mine lands program handles the cleanup.
Each program says the same thing first: do not go in. Then it wants the location as exactly as you can give it, which on public land is usually a GPS reading or the township, range and section.
The record
After the hole is closed
Keep the state program's report, the insurer's letter and your own dated photographs together. A subsidence event becomes part of the history of the parcel, and the next buyer will ask. The state program enters the site in its inventory, and the federal e-AMLIS inventory lists the abandoned coal mine problems reported by every state program and the reclamation work funded against them, county by county.
Then ask for the mine map. The state program will usually know which working it was, and our guide on how to get the mine map says where the map is kept in your state.
Straight answers
Questions people ask when the ground moves
Open only the answer you need.
A hole opened in my yard. Is it a mine?
Not necessarily. Over an old working it is usually a shaft or a shallow room collapsing. In limestone country, which is most of Florida, Puerto Rico and parts of many other states, the same hole is a karst sinkhole with no mine involved. The state abandoned mine land office or the state geological survey will tell you which, and the answer changes who pays.
Can I fill it myself?
Not before it has been looked at, and never by climbing in. A shaft can be hundreds of feet deep under a few feet of soil, and the fill can go down with the next collapse. The state program closes emergency openings at no charge to the owner, which is what its federal funding is for.
Who pays for the damage to the house?
In the eight states with a mine subsidence program, the program pays if the cover was in place before the damage. Everywhere else it is whatever your insurer wrote, and a standard homeowner policy excludes earth movement. The abandoned mine land office fills the hole but does not pay for the house.
What if the opening is on federal land?
Report it to the office that manages the land: the Bureau of Land Management for public land, the Forest Service for a national forest, the National Park Service inside a park. Each runs an abandoned mine program and each says the same thing first: stay out.
The mine is still working. Who do I call?
The state mining regulator, and the operator. Damage to a home from subsidence over a working underground coal mine is the operator's to repair or pay for under the federal surface mining law (30 U.S.C. 1309a), and the state issues the permit that says so. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration regulates the mine itself.
Your own state
Abandoned mine maps, state by state
Each page names that state's own offices, its own counties and its own numbers.
Please read
Disclaimer
The mine information here is for general information only. Old mine records can be incomplete, outdated or wrong, and finding nothing here does not mean there is nothing there. Check with the mine map office named here before you rely on it, and have a qualified engineer look at any ground you are worried about. PublicRecordCenter.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.