Regional leaders testified in front of a U.S. House subcommittee about strategies to restore abandoned mines and witnesses expressed support for the RECLAIM Act.
Blog Archives
Congressional Hearing Addresses Abandoned Mine Cleanup
TAGS: abandoned mine lands AML reauthorization Community Reclamation Partnerships Act Congress mine reclamation RECLAIM Act
Cuts to funding for black lung benefits
Despite significant grassroots pressure, an excise tax that pays into a healthcare and disability fund for miners with black lung was slashed in half. The lack of action by Congress amounts to a tax break for coal companies while putting benefits for former miners and their families at risk.
Battling for Black Lung Benefits
The deadly disease is on the rise, but funding for healthcare will be halved unless Congress acts this year.
Reauthorization of Mine Lands Program Advances
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would renew funding for restoring abandoned coal mine sites — but it would also limit a wide swath of environmental protections.
Environmental Votetracker — Aug/Sept 2018 issue
Chart showing how Appalachian legislators voted on recent environmental legislation.
Endangered Species Act Threatened
New guidelines from the Trump Administration alongside a congressional package of nine bills would bring massive changes to the Endangered Species Act.
Federal spending bill: Some good, and bad news for Appalachia
Congress included funding for several programs important for Appalachian communities, but failed to include the critical RECLAIM Act.
Decades in the Making: A Mine Reclamation Backlog
Several charts and maps show the enormity of the abandoned mine problems that still need to be cleaned up — and the inadequacy of the current cleanup fund.
White House halts review of mountaintop removal health impacts
The U.S. Department of the Interior ordered the National Academy of Sciences to halt its review of the links between mountaintop removal coal mining and human health impacts.
TAGS: Air Pollution Coal Congress Environment Health Kentucky Mountaintop Removal Tennessee Virginia Water Pollution West Virginia
House Committee approves the RECLAIM Act with bipartisan support
On Tuesday morning, the House Natural Resources Committee passed the RECLAIM Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at revitalizing coal mining communities. The legislation would direct $1 billion over five years to restoring abandoned mine lands. Committee members also approved an…
