he Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Fund was created as part of the Federal Surface Mining Law in 1977. Active Coal mining operators are assessed a tax of 35 cents per ton on strip mined coal and 15 cents on coal mined underground, with the money intended to repair damage caused by coal mining before the reclamation law was passed. Currently, $1.4 billion of these collected funds remain unused, and resting in a Federal Trust Fund. Since the fee was enacted in 1977 Congress has appropriated all of the yearly fees collected on only three occasions, while the cost of reclamation continues to increase. In addition, under current law, half of all money collected is earmarked for the states where the coal is mined. This leaves some western states that have no abandoned mine sites with millions of dollars that they cannot use.

Robert Hughes, EPCAMR			Karen Szwast, Hicks Creek Watershed Association
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here is broad-based support for the release of these funds because this issue doesn't pit jobs and industry against environmental protection and local people. In Eastern PA alone, EPCAMR works with over 60 organizations that are dealing with the legacy of abandoned mine lands. These reclamation projects will create jobs in Pennsylvania's coal counties where they are needed the most. According to statistics provided to Congress from the National Association of Contractors, each million dollars of AML money spent on reclamation projects creates 59 jobs. OSM estimates that it would take over $625 million to clean up all the highest priority sites in the Commonwealth, those that present a clear risk to health and safety. That would also mean over 36,000 new jobs in the Pennsylvania coalfields.

ore of the money needs to be spent in states where the need is greatest instead of being distributed according to current coal production," Heath Hines, Luzerne Conservation District suggested, "This is the only way we can hope to deal with our abandoned mine land problems here in Pennsylvania." here is a portion of the money collected that is set aside for reclamation in historic mining areas such as Pennsylvania, but it's not nearly enough to catch up. If the reclamation had been carried out early on and the funds had been appropriated, as they were collected instead of being delayed while costs skyrocketed, many more sites could have been reclaimed and many more streams could have been restored. e need public officials and citizens across Pennsylvania to join us in ruffling the feathers a bit on this issue until Congress hears our cry for help," Jeanne Miller, a lifetime resident of the Fayette County community of White, added. "Every day that goes by without the money being used, our communities suffer from polluted water, the risk of flooding, and our children run the risk of being injured or even worse die, in one of these abandoned mines."   Click on the photo to enlarge it.     n Eastern Pennsylvania, an abandoned mine tunnel discharge known as the Oneida #1, up until last August spewed forth over 3500 gallons per minute (gpm) of acid mine water polluted by aluminum metal loading to the streams that lead to the Catawissa Creek, in Luzerne, Schuylkill, and Columbia Counties. With federal funding from the Rural Abandoned Mine Program (RAMP), Office of Surface Mining Clean Streams Initiative Program (ACSI), and several other state programs, including PA's Growing Greener Grants Program, EPCAMR, the Catawissa Creek Restoration Association, and its dozens of partner organizations, successfully coordinated, designed, constructed and cleaned up the Oneida #1 mine tunnel discharge through the construction of a treatment system consisting of limestone filled underground drains and a settling basin for the aluminum floc that eventually drops out of the mine water after having come in contact with the limestone drains. For $375,000, and a lot of community volunteer efforts,16 miles of stream were restored to the point where the stream no longer acidic and impaired, but had become alkaline, which in terms of water quality, is much better for fish and aquatic insects. Stocked trout donated by a local fish hatchery in Zion Grove, to this day swim in the settling pond below the treatment system to symbolize the success of the project and to give hope to people in the watershed that soon, fish will once again inhabit the streams of the Catawissa Creek, a stream, once considered "dead" for the last 80 years by local fishermen. he heart and soul of everyday people breathe life into restoration and reclamation projects in Eastern Pennsylvania. Our success is built upon the projects, ideas, and environmental action of literally thousands of community volunteers who are determined to not let the deleterious impacts of abandoned mine drainage and mine-scarred lands continue to degrade their quality of life." - Robert Hughes embers of the alliance include the member groups of the Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR), Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (WPCAMR), the Western Pennsylvania Watershed Protection Program, the Tri-State Citizens Mining Network, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Mountain Watershed Association, Luzerne Conservation District, Kiski/Conemaugh River Basin Alliance, PennFuture, Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers and many others. For More information about this topic: Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR) Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (WPCAMR) Watershed Hero - Robert Hughes