Federal programs are revitalizing KY coal communities for a more prosperous future | Opinion

For generations, coal communities helped power our nation. Yet across America, those communities are now at risk. Hazardous abandoned coal mine lands – relics of the pre-1977 unregulated coal mining industry – linger, polluting the landscapes and threatening the safety and health of people and ecosystems. Kentucky is one of many states working to address this toxic legacy pollution. Through close partnerships with the Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, together we are working to transition these lands to benefit generations to come.

Until the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was enacted, the only source of funding for that cleanup had been generated by a fee placed on each ton of mined coal, and later deposited into an abandoned mine land fund. For years, that funding had been shrinking as coal production declined. Crucially, that fee also helped cover pensions and health care costs for former coal mine workers. Disappearing funding meant that the health and security of the people who had powered our nation were at risk in more ways than one.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law changed that by infusing the abandoned mine fund with over $11 billion to clean up the majority of the remaining known abandoned coal mine sites nationwide. To understand the impact of this investment, consider that in 2021, Kentucky received roughly $9.3 million in abandoned mine cleanup funds. In 2022, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Kentucky received over $74 million, roughly eight times more that the previous year. And this wasn’t a one-time investment. Kentucky received another $74 million in 2023 and will continue to get that amount for another 13 years – a grand total of over $1.1 billion to meet the state’s need and make Kentucky’s water cleaner, lands safer, and communities healthier.

We are wasting no time ensuring these investments and programs benefit communities across Kentucky. In partnership with the Department, the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s abandoned mine land program has begun planning and carrying out projects to protect homes and infrastructure from subsidence and landslides, cleaning up streams polluted with acid mine drainage, creating good-paying, family-sustaining jobs, and diversifying the economy.

This work is already making a difference. In Providence, land subsidence from old underground mining was remediated, allowing a construction crew to safely build a new small-box discount retailer, providing the community with improved access to food and other essential supplies while supporting economic development. In Tutor Key, flooding resulting from the impacts of historic coal mining threatened the safety of 12 homes. An ongoing reclamation project is installing concrete ditches, culverts and drop boxes to control drainage and help prevent future flooding and ground erosion. And in Fleming-Neon, workers are addressing a landslide that has endangered homes and a near-by access road by stabilizing a hillside. Together, we are building a future that Kentucky communities deserve.

Projects like these not only protect families, homes and critical infrastructure – they promote economic development that builds diversified economic resilience directly into the communities that have carried our nation forward for generations.

Importantly, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law prioritizes projects that employ disenfranchised coal industry workers to receive funding. Likewise, President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative commits to delivering 40% of the benefits of certain climate and clean energy investments to communities that have been disproportionately burdened by pollution. For places like Providence, Tutor Key, and Fleming-Neon, we are delivering on that promise.

Coal communities helped build our nation, and they deserve the support and resources they need to live healthy lives free from contaminated lands and waters and other hazards that have been left behind. Our commitment to Kentuckians and other communities across our nation stands firm: the Biden-Harris administration will continue to show up for coal communities as we build a prosperous future for each of us, together.

Deb Haaland is U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Sharon Buccino is Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement.