Department of Interior announces nearly $125M to reclaim abandoned coal mines

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) announced it had awarded more than $124.8 million to states and Tribes for abandoned mine land (AML) reclamation.

The grants through the AML Reclamation Program, will be used to address the hazards and environmental degradation posed by legacy coal mine sites, officials said. The program is funded in part by fees collected on all coal producing in the United States, an initiative that was reauthorized and extended as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“OSMRE is proud to announce the availability of the 2024 AML fee-based grants,” OSMRE Principal Deputy Director Sharon Buccino said. “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.”

Twenty-four coal-producing states and two Tribal AML reclamation programs are eligible for the funding based on a congressionally mandated formula centered on their past and current coal production. Recipients included more than $25 million for the state of Wyoming, and more than $544,000 for the Navajo Nation, as well as $8,675 for Louisiana. Most awards were in the $2 million range.

So far, OSMRE has distributed around $8.5 billion in AML fee-based grants to address the physical hazards of abandoned mines, and those left inadequately restored. These funds are in addition to funding provided directly by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Program.