From Congressman Darin LaHood:
LaHood’s Community Reclamation Partnerships Act Passes the House
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-16) praised the passage of his legislation, H.R. 167, the Community Reclamation Partnerships Act.
This legislation will ensure continued investment for the cleanup of abandoned coal mines across the country.
“This legislation, which also passed the House last Congress, will help address the complex legal and funding-related challenges for abandoned mines that we have in Illinois and across the country,” said Rep. LaHood.
“The Community Reclamation Partnerships Act amends the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to enable states to partner with non-governmental entities to reclaim abandoned mine sites and facilitate acid mine drainage cleanup across the country.
“Nongovernmental entities recognize the need for reclamation in our communities and are willing to contribute the resources and expertise necessary to address this problem while reducing the burden on the taxpayers and the states.”
“With thousands of legacy coal mines across the country in need of remediation, we must support all efforts to responsibly clean up these sites,” said House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman.
“Rep. LaHood’s bill does just that: incentivizing community efforts to work with the state and federal government to get the job done. I thank Rep. LaHood for his work to bring this important bill to the floor.”
“Last year, Congress passed Good Samaritan legislation to jumpstart the cleanup of abandoned hardrock mines. Today, the House of Representatives took a big step forward to do the same for abandoned coal mines,” said Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited.
“We thank Congressman LaHood for his tireless leadership and appreciate the Natural Resources Committee working in a bipartisan fashion to ensure swift passage through the House. This bill will help make communities and waters healthier throughout Appalachia and other parts of coal country, and we look forward to working with the Senate to make this common sense bill the law of the land.”
Background:
Thousands of inactive coal mines, abandoned before the era of modern regulation, exist across the country. Many of these sites pose health and safety risks or environmental hazards, burdening landowners and inhibiting opportunities for economic development. The states are responsible for reclaiming abandoned mine sites, and state Abandoned Mine Land (AML) programs undertake numerous cleanup projects every year.
Given the significant inventory of unclaimed sites, there is a need to identify new routes to reclamation without additional burdens on coal operators or the taxpayer. This need has encouraged third-party non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to participate in cleanup projects.
The Community Reclamation Partnerships Act would amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to authorize states and non-governmental entities to work together to restore land and water affected by coal mining before the law was passed in 1977.
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Boy, does this bring back memories.
The same week as Boys State, Knox College conducted a week-long course on ecology for incoming high school seniors.
Given the conflict, I went for ecology.
One of the days was dedicated to running a string along an abandoned strip mine and identifying the plants that it touched.
