Comments on: We could put miners back to work today – so why aren’t we? https://mtassociation.org/uncategorized/we-could-put-miners-back-to-work-today-so-why-aren-t-we/ Building a New Economy, Together. Tue, 07 Jul 2020 19:41:43 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Anonymous https://mtassociation.org/uncategorized/we-could-put-miners-back-to-work-today-so-why-aren-t-we/#comment-32 Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://maced.kypolicy.org/uncategorized/we-could-put-miners-back-to-work-today-so-why-aren-t-we/#comment-32 Just a friendly addition/clarification, the issues around AML funds as I understand it have one additional caveat that may not be apparent from the article: they can only be used on pre-1977 mined lands or in some cases “bond forfeiture” sites (when a post-1977 coal company declares bankruptcy before finishing reclamation, though this is actually under a separate department and is relatively uncommon). These pre-’77 lands are actually quite small acreage-wise and are largely already reforested since the coal company was not yet required to do reclamation and therefore did not compact the ground or hydroseed it with exotic invasives. AML funds are occasionally used for serious problems like landslides or underground minewater blowouts, but overall the main problem is that the size of the fund is much larger than the actual amount of work to be done that falls under the currently defined category of “AML.”

While there certainly are some issues such as toxic mine drainage (acid, alkaline, and otherwise) that remain to be addressed by AML funds that could also incorporate innovative ideas like micro-hydro power (see http://www.streamrestorationinc.org), the ideal situation would be for US Congress to redefine the fund itself to be able to be used for multifaceted ecological remediation and sustainable economic development on “post-bond release” surface mined lands. The problem there is that post-’77 mined lands that are legally “reclaimed” according to the approved post mining land use in the permit application are not considered “abandoned” even if no one knows who actually owns it anymore. One more quick clarification, the term “reclamation” usually refers to the final step in the mining process that coal companies are required to do in order to achieve final bond release and be freed of legal liability; I think what we’re really advocating for here is funding for post-reclamation remediation and development.

Kudos for making these issues widely known, let me know where to sign up to make some changes in Congress!

Nathan Hall
Reforestation Coordinator
Green Forests Work
http://www.greenforestswork.org

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