A one-acre plot at the shuttered NRG Jewett Mine lignite coal mine, which is being reclaimed as part of the NRG Energy Dewey Prairie Garden, located in Freestone County 60 miles east of Waco, is part of the effort to restore the 35,000-acre mine. The generator began running on cleaner-burning coal from Wyoming in 2016.

The garden has yielded about 10,000 pounds of produce for six food pantries since it began harvesting in April 2022. Texan by Nature, which manages the garden, estimates it has served approximately 2,000 people per month in Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties in a relative food desert.

In 1975, the Texas Legislature authorized the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees Texas’ oil and gas industry, to regulate surface coal mining. In 1977, the federal government created a fund to help pay for cleaning up old mines and required companies to restore the land to its prior condition after closing a mine.

NRG, which allotted $112 million to restore the mine, has set aside nine more acres to expand the garden, which was started as a pilot project. It is hoped that the garden can show how industry can work with local communities for benefit of all.