$2.8M in mining reclamation funds coming to Virginia

As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to create good-paying jobs and address legacy pollution harming communities across the nation, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced more than $124.8 million in fiscal year 2024 abandoned mine land (AML) reclamation fee-based grants available to states and Tribes for AML reclamation efforts that continue to protect the health and safety of Americans and restore the environment.

“OSMRE is proud to announce the availability of the 2024 AML fee-based grants,” said OSMRE Principal Deputy Director Sharon Buccino.“These grants will ensure our state and Tribal partners have the resources needed to continue their decades of successful reclamation work on our nation’s abandoned mine land sites.”

OSMRE, through its AML Reclamation Program, addresses the hazards and environmental degradation posed by legacy coal mine sites, eliminating dangerous conditions and pollution caused by past coal mining. AML fee-based grants are funded in part by a fee collected on all coal produced in the United States. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law reauthorized and extended the AML fee through September 30, 2034, ensuring AML fee-based grants to states and Tribes through 2035.

In fiscal year 2024, 24 coal-producing states and two Tribal AML reclamation programs are eligible to receive AML fee-based grants according to a congressionally mandated formula based on their past and current coal production. The total amount available for fiscal year 2024 AML fee-based grants was reduced by the mandated sequestration amount of 5.7%, resulting in the $124.8 million allocated towards AML fee-based grant distribution.

OSMRE has distributed approximately $8.5 billion in AML fee-based grants to states and Tribes to address the physical hazards posed by lands and waters mined and abandoned or left inadequately restored before 1977, when the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 was enacted.

These funds are in addition to funding provided by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Program. All three programs support OSMRE’s core mission of making people safer, cleaning up the environment, and encouraging economic development in coal communities. In Virginia $2.8 million was allocated.