Appalachia Could Address Poverty and Build Worker Power by Reforesting Mine-scarred Land
This post is the second in a four-part series based on a recent ORVI report on abandoned mine land (AML) issues. Figures cited below can be found in the accompanying report. Abandoned coal mines have damaged thousands of acres of land, polluted hundreds of miles of streams, and are emitting tons of greenhouse gases. In […]
Repairing the Damage from Hazardous Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells
An analysis of the potential benefits of a large-scale federal program to plug abandoned oil and gas wells in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
Repairing the Damage: Cleaning Up the Land, Air, and Water Damaged by the Coal Industry Before 1977
Cleaning up Appalachia’s thousands of acres of abandoned mine lands could create jobs, reduce climate-warming emissions, improve quality of life, and minimize environmental damage.
The true cost of cleaning up historic damage from the coal industry
This afternoon, Congress will hold a hearing on a slew of bills that seek to clean up land and water damaged by the coal industry before it was regulated in 1977. The hearing rightly highlights the urgency of reauthorizing fees on coal production that fund cleanup, which are set to expire in September even though […]
A federal solution is needed to address hazardous abandoned wells
On Thursday the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources in the US House will be holding a hearing on the federal Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program to discuss reauthorization of the program and how it can help local economies and the environment. The AML program was created in 1977 under the Surface Mining Control and […]