BY REX BOWMAN

Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Gob piles -- those sometimes-hazardous heaps of coal and rock that dot Virginia's Appalachian landscape -- could soon be increasingly mined for usable coal.

The federal government, looking to clean up the gob piles left at abandoned mine sites, is proposing to waive certain fees for mining companies that remove the coal and clean up the land.

The incentive plan: Companies that now pay the government up to 31.5 cents per ton of mined coal would not pay the fee for coal they get from the gob piles.

Walt Crickmer owns Gobco LLC of Abingdon, which has a state contract to mine the piles for leftover coal. He said the plan would save him thousands of dollars.

The timing of the proposal is good, Crickmer said, because Dominion Virginia Power's proposed coal-fired power plant in Wise County would be able to burn the lower-quality gob coal as fuel, unlike older power plants. The plant's approval -- state regulators are still reviewing it -- would give mining companies a ready market for the coal.

The federal plan aims to remove the gob piles, which occasionally leach acids into and contaminate mountain streams. The coal was left in the piles decades ago when technology and economics made extracting it impossible or unprofitable. The piles can contain hundreds of thousands of tons of coal.

"We want all of the coal completely removed," said Ben Owens, spokesman for the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, which is pushing the plan.

Waiving the reclamation fee for gob mining would lead to the reclamation of more abandoned mine sites, Owens said.

The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy has estimated the state has more than 400 gob piles, some of which are designated as dangerous.

Since 1977, mining companies have been required by federal law to clean up the land after they have finished mining coal. But nationwide, thousands of mines active before 1977 were abandoned, and many of them have gob piles. The reclamation fee that coal companies now pay per ton is used to clean up the pre-1977 mine sites.

Jim Norvelle, spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power, said the federal plan is a winner because it not only would provide the power plant with a close-to-hand fuel source but also remove gob as a source of water contamination. "Looking at the energy needs of Virginia and the country, we've got to find a way to use gob."

Mike Abbott, spokesman for the state mining agency, said the plan is sound because mining companies would clean up abandoned mine sites that the government would otherwise have to spend money to clean up. The money saved through the plan, he said, could go to clean up those sites unmined by companies.

Contact Rex Bowman at rbowman@timesdispatch.com.