Industry supports abandoned mine lands compromise bill

Although the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) fee was set to expire in 2021, while extending the fee, this new compromise legislation will help bring the programme into closer alignment with its intended purpose: to clean up orphaned coal mining sites.

“Among industry’s primary concerns with the programme have been the diversion of funds away from their intended purpose – the reclamation of coal mines that were abandoned prior to 1977 – and the lack of oversight to ensure expended funds are used properly,” said Rich Nolan, NMA President and CEO. “This legislation will help to refocus the programme on priority reclamation projects and examine the oversight required to ensure funds are not squandered on overhead and administrative costs.”

Originally created in 1977, the AML fee is set to expire on 30 September 2021; Senator Barrasso’s bill would extend the fee until 2028.

To date, the coal industry has paid more than US$11.6 billion into the AML fund to reclaim legacy abandoned mines only to see the majority of those funds disappear. Due to prior weaknesses in programme management, just one in three dollars spent by the fund has gone to priority coal projects that the fund was intended to rehabilitate. A General Accounting Office report found that between 1985-1990, US$360 million, or 28%, of the US$1.3 billion spent during that period was used for federal and state administrative expenses.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/mining/18062020/industry-supports-abandoned-mine-lands-compromise-bill/