The Pennsylvania Environmental Council is endorsing a bill introduced by U.S. Congressman John Peterson (R-PA/5) that would reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) program and speed up the reclamation of thousands of hazardous abandoned coal mines across the country. Peterson was joined by a bipartisan coalition of 16 House Members from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee and Maryland.

“The Peterson Bill is especially important for Pennsylvania and presents an opportunity to refocus the AML program on its original intention – to clean up abandoned coal mines,” stated Andrew McElwaine, President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. “We look forward to working with Congressman Peterson and the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation to speed up Pennsylvania’s reclamation efforts. This bill will place funds where they need to be for those states that face the health, security and environmental challenges posed by abandoned mines everyday.”

Peterson's bill will enable the clean up of Pennsylvania's AML sites in as little as 25 years, as opposed to 50-60 years under the current program, while reducing the hazards of abandoned coal mines left over from decades of coal mining. Abandoned mines encompass more than 189,000 acres in 44 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, and more than 3000 miles of streams are polluted by acid mine drainage. At least 40 people have been killed and many more injured at abandoned mines in Pennsylvania alone over the past 15 years.

Competing with the Peterson bill is the Cubin-Rahall bill, introduced by Barbara Cubin (R-WY) that would leave Pennsylvania with nearly $600 million in cleanup remaining, while giving Wyoming over $1 billion for “rainy day” projects such as construction and road paving.

Under the current AML program, mine reclamation dollars are raised through a per-ton fee on coal and are allocated to states based on their current level of coal production. As a result, the majority of funds are directed to states like Wyoming which only recently began mining coal as the industry moved west. Since Wyoming has been certified since 1982 to have no abandoned mine problems, the state has used the millions of dollars they receive from the AML program for miscellaneous projects. Consequently, only 52 percent of AML program funding is currently being used to clean up hazardous abandoned mines.

According to an analysis by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM), Cubin-Rahall would steer more than $1.2 billion in non-reclamation funding to Wyoming over the next 25 years, while leaving a shortfall of more than $1 billion for priority mine reclamation projects in states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kansas and Oklahoma. After 25 years, Pennsylvania would still need $566 million to complete high-priority mine reclamation projects.

Under the Peterson bill, future AML funding would be directed to high-priority areas, providing reclamation dollars to states based on their number of abandoned mines that present a public health and safety risk.

H.R. 2721, the Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Program Extension and Reform Act of 2005, was officially introduced by Peterson and a bipartisan coalition of House Members on Thursday, May 26th. Senator Arlen Specter has introduced a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.

For more information, visit the AML Campaign website and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

6/17/2005