Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Investments Will Create Jobs and Opportunity in Historic Coal Mining Regions

Landmark Investment in Clean-up Combined with Passage of the Build Back Better Act Would Mean Unprecedented New Opportunities to Diversify Local Economies

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, which includes $11.3 billion in new Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funding. These investments will put thousands of people to work repairing land and waterways damaged by mining, treating polluted waters, sealing and filling abandoned mine entries, and developing erosion prevention measures to protect against dangerous land and mudslides. 

“Abandoned coal mines and the waters and lands they pollute threaten our communities long after the coal industry has come and gone,” said Bonnie Swinford, Senior Organizing Representative for the Sierra Club in Tennessee. “These investments create an unprecedented opportunity to make our communities safer and cleaner while also creating good-paying jobs and new opportunities to build diverse new businesses and economic opportunities.”

In the last 40 years, just over $6 billion in total AML funding has been distributed. The AML investments in the infrastructure package nearly doubled that amount, with funding to be distributed over15 years. Recent analysis indicates these investments would create 2,970 new jobs and nearly $10 billion in economic growth in Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia alone. 

Alongside the investments in the Build Back Better Act, these new funds will mean that the people and places that powered America for generations are poised to seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity to diversify their economies with unprecedented new job creation and economic growth. In addition to the Infrastructure Bill’s AML investments, the Build Back Better Act includes funding to expand access to broadband, including in rural areas, revitalize the Civilian Conservation Corps to put over 300,000 Americans and many Appalachians to work conserving and restoring public lands, and extends tax credits for clean manufacturing in communities where coal mines have closed or where coal-fired power plants have recently retired.

“The communities that powered this country for generations have felt the consequences of the decline of the coal industry most strongly. Now, they deserve the support of our nation to ensure they have a bright future,” said Swinford. “Together, these investments in abandoned mine land clean up coupled with those in the Build Back Better Act will give communities historically dependent on the coal industry new economic opportunities and growth for their futures.”

BACKGROUND CONTEXT:
Congress established the AML fund under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) in 1977. Since then, AML funds have helped eliminate open mine portals, reclaimed dangerous highwalls, and cleaned up water supplies in coalfield communities, all while creating jobs and economic development opportunities. 

To continue that work, this legislation provides $11.3 billion in clean-up funding over 15 years for 25 states and three Tribes, including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, and the Crow, Hopi and Navajo tribes. State Funding Distributions are available here. However, new provisions are needed to ensure this new funding can go toward the clean up of acid mine drainage (AMD) -- a common threat from abandoned mine land that poses unique funding challenges not directly accounted for in the infrastructure bill.