HARRISBURG – Gov. Edward G. Rendell this week praised members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, local environmental organizations, coal companies and mine workers for their efforts to extend and enhance the federal program that funds the reclamation of abandoned mine lands in Pennsylvania and other coal mining states.
Congress last week approved extending the fund through September 2021 and made other changes to the program that will significantly increase the amount of money Pennsylvania receives annually to reclaim the highest priority abandoned sites. President Bush signed the bill into law Wednesday. The abandoned mine lands program had been operating under a series of short-term, one-year extensions for the past three years.
“The long-term reauthorization of the Abandoned Mine Lands Trust Fund is a major victory for Pennsylvania’s environment and economy, and much of the credit goes to the environmental groups, members of congress, coal companies and mine workers who have worked so hard to win approval of this measure,” Rendell said.
“This reauthorization package increases Pennsylvania’s annual abandoned mine lands grant so we can accelerate the pace of reclamation, and also removes much of the past uncertainty of the congressional budgeting and appropriations process, allowing us to plan for the next 15 years.
“Pennsylvania has the largest abandoned mine problem in the country, with nearly one of every 10 people living within one mile of a dangerous site,” Rendell said. “Abandoned mines hinder economic growth, threaten public health and safety, and place our former mining communities at a competitive disadvantage.”
The AML Trust Fund was created in 1977 with passage of the federal Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act, and is funded largely by a fee on every ton of coal mined by the active mining industry. The reauthorization extends collection of that fee for another 15 years and places collection and distribution of that money under control of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining.
The fee on the active mining industry will be reduced by 20 percent over the next six years under the measure. In addition, the amount of money states may set aside to address mine drainage problems has been increased.
Pennsylvania has more than 180,000 acres of unmarked shafts, unstable cliffs, water-filled pits and abandoned equipment and buildings left over from when mining was largely unregulated prior to 1977. More than 2 billion tons of waste coal sits in piles that dot the state’s landscape. Some 6,200 miles of rivers and streams are polluted or degraded by acid mine discharge.
Rendell’s $625 million Growing Greener II initiative provides significant funding to address a vast array of environmental and public health problems at abandoned mine sites in Pennsylvania. The voter-approved program allocates $60 million to clean up rivers and streams affected by abandoned acid mine drainage and reclaim abandoned mine lands scarred by dangerous highwalls, mine openings and water-filled pits.