The Illinois Department of Natural Resources wants to fill old mine shafts, seal them up, or transform them into monitoring wells or toxic gas vents. At some abandoned mines, the department wants to correct retaining walls, embankments, and berms that are deteriorating. The plan is to make 55 mines across Illinois safer, using $76 million in federal infrastructure funds. IDNR is taking public comments until May 22. Four of the mines are in LaSalle County, four are in Grundy County, and there are one each in Bureau and Livingston counties.
More information about the abandoned mines reclamation project is available at this link.