Abandoned mine cleanup in peril, if coal industry tax expires
The Charleston Gazette, W.Va. --Aug. 31
Aug. 31--U.S. Interior Department officials on Monday warned Congress that "millions of acres" of abandoned mines would go unreclaimed if lawmakers do not renew a coal industry tax.
The tax that funds the federal Abandoned Mine Land, or AML, program is to
expire Sept. 30.
"If the AML fee is not reauthorized before September 30, the significant
progress that has been made to date in reclaiming abandoned mine sites will soon
come to an end," Watson said in a letter to lawmakers.
"As a result, more than $2 billion worth of high-priority coal
reclamation ... will remain unreclaimed, leaving millions of people who live,
work and recreate in the nation's coalfields to continue to be exposed to the
many dangers these areas represent," Watson wrote.
Congress created the AML program in 1977, when it passed the Surface Mining
Control and Reclamation Act.
Under the program, coal operators pay 35 cents per ton of surface-mined coal
and 15 cents per ton of underground-mined coal. The money is supposed to be used
to clean up coal mines that were abandoned before 1977.
Since the program began, coal companies have paid more than $7 billion into
the fund.
But, as The Charleston Gazette outlined in a series of articles two weeks
ago, more than $1.3 billion of AML money has been diverted to other projects.
Lawmakers and Interior's Office of Surface Mining have allowed AML money to
fund infrastructure projects unrelated to the coal industry, health-care
benefits for retired coal miners, the clean up of other industries' messes, and
lower-priority abandoned coal sites that do not pose health or safety threats.
Across the coalfields, abandoned coal mines have also gone unreclaimed
because Congress has squirreled away $1.6 billion of AML money to help make the
federal budget look more balanced.
So far this year, competing proposals to extend the AML tax have stalled.
The Bush administration's plan is going nowhere, because it does not give
western states -- especially Wyoming, the nation's largest coal producer -- any
share of the future coal taxes they pay. The Bush plan would instead use coal
taxes from Wyoming -- which promised 20 years ago that it had reclaimed all of
its abandoned mines -- to clean up sites in West Virginia and other Appalachian
states.
Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., has joined with Rep. Barbara Cubin, D-Wyo.,
with a plan that would give Wyoming more money from federal mineral leases
instead. Also, the Rahall-Cubin plan would require states to more closely follow
the original AML goals of putting high-priority health-and-safety cleanups
first.
Under current law, the OSM could continue to levy some sort of AML tax after
Sept. 30. But, the fee could be set only at the level needed to fund the United
Mine Workers' health-care plan. No future taxes for abandoned cleanups would be
allowed.
Watson, the Interior assistant secretary, outlined her concerns about the
issue in a Monday letter to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Pete
Domenici, R-N.M., and House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif.
"Impacts would be felt first and hardest in the Appalachian coal states,
specifically Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Virginia and
Indiana, where most of the work of reclaiming abandoned coal mines is left to
do," Watson said. "These are consequences that can and should be
avoided."
Congress has been out of session since July 26, and returns Sept. 7.
Lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn Oct. 1.
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