WASHINGTON,
D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced the U.S. Department
of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) has
awarded the Ohio Department of Natural Resources a $46,444,000 Abandoned Mine
Land Reclamation grant. These funds will go toward reclamation and restoration
projects in previously mined sites across the state, including closing
dangerous mine shafts, eliminating highwalls, reclaiming unstable slopes,
treating acid mine drainage, and restoring water supplies damaged by mining.
Funding for this investment was made possible through the bipartisan
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs
Act (IIJA), which Brown helped to write and pass.
“Ohio
coal communities helped build and power this country and they deserve our
respect and attention,” said Brown. “This investment is a promise, a
down payment to create new jobs and give local communities resources they need
to restore the land and keep their communities safe.”
“This
investment is a game changer. Rural Action, together with our state and
national partners, has been doing restoration work for close to 30 years and
has restored 74 miles of previously-dead streams. When that happens, it makes a
difference in terms of quality of life, public safety, and
economic opportunity. Putting people to work fixing hazardous sites from
past mining, and cleaning up impacted streams is an investment in our
communities that will make a difference for the long haul. We applaud the Biden
administration for this smart investment in a just transition for coal
communities,”
said Debbie Phillips, CEO of Rural Action in Athens county.
Brown has been
fighting for investments in Ohio’s coal communities for
years. In March 2017, he introduced the
RECLAIM Act with Sen.
Joe Manchin (D-WV) to create jobs and spur economic growth by reclaiming
abandoned-mining lands and restoring these lands and waters for future
development and use. The
RECLAIM Act aims to support the
development of new economic and community development opportunities in impacted
coal communities by directing $1 billion in existing funds from the Abandoned
Mine Reclamation Fund toward these communities. In March 2021, Brown
joined his colleagues to
reintroduce this
legislation.
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