Resident Presses Board on Refuse Area Height Increase, Emergency Plan

Article Summary: County resident Bill Schroeder used the public comment period at Tuesday’s Montgomery County Board meeting to update members on Hillsboro Energy’s application to raise the height of Refuse Disposal Area 2 from 65 feet to 100 feet, telling the board he does not believe concerns raised at a public hearing were addressed and questioning whether an emergency action plan has ever been completed with the county’s emergency management office.

Public Comment Key Points:

Schroeder said the application would raise Refuse Disposal Area 2 from 65 feet to 100 feet.

Mine engineer responses to the modification were filed June 16 and the comment period ended June 17.

Schroeder questioned whether an emergency action plan has ever been completed with the County EMA office.

He asked board members to stay aware of the Deer Run Mine’s requests for IDNR modifications.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — A single speaker took the public comment period at the Montgomery County Board’s meeting on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, and used it to keep a coal refuse disposal application in front of members.

County resident Bill Schroeder updated the board on Hillsboro Energy’s application to raise the height of Refuse Disposal Area 2, referred to in the minutes as RDA 2, from 65 feet to 100 feet.

Schroeder reported that mine engineer responses to the modification were filed June 16 and that the comment period ended June 17 — meaning the window for public input on the application had closed nearly a month before Tuesday’s meeting.

He told the board he feels concerns raised at the public hearing were not addressed, and he questioned whether an emergency action plan has ever been completed with the County EMA office.

Schroeder closed by asking members to keep aware of the activities surrounding the Deer Run Mine’s requests for IDNR modifications.

What the Record Does and Does Not Establish

The minutes record no response from any board member, the chairman or staff, and no motion or referral followed. Emergency Management Agency, EPA and 911 Director Dan Hough was present for questions on his monthly report earlier in the meeting, under the consent agenda, but the minutes do not indicate that he addressed Schroeder’s question about an emergency action plan.

The minutes name Hillsboro Energy and the Deer Run Mine in separate sentences and do not state a relationship between them. Nor do they say where Refuse Disposal Area 2 is located, what regulatory body is considering the height application, or what stage that application has reached. IDNR — referred to only by its initials — is not expanded anywhere in the record.

Public comment at the county board is a standing agenda item and, in this county’s practice, is frequently the only place where questions about mining operations reach the full board. Schroeder’s remarks Tuesday are the only public comment recorded at the meeting.

Residents seeking the underlying filings would need to go to the state regulator rather than the county, which has no recorded role in the height application.