PRINTER'S NO. 2053
No. 230 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY HERSHEY, GEORGE, T. STEVENSON, SURRA, RUBLEY,
FREEMAN, ARMSTRONG, CLARK, CREIGHTON, FEESE, FRANKEL, HARPER,
JADLOWIEC, LEVDANSKY, LYNCH, MANN, McGILL, McILHINNEY,
R. MILLER, PALLONE, ROSS, STEELMAN, STERN, THOMAS, VITALI AND
WANSACZ, MAY 29, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, MAY 29, 2001
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the President and Congress of the United States to make
2 the $1.5 billion of Federal moneys already earmarked for
3 abandoned mine reclamation available to the states.
4 WHEREAS, The biggest water pollution problem facing the
5 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania today is polluted water draining
6 from abandoned coal mines; and
7 WHEREAS, Over half the streams that do not meet water quality
8 standards in this Commonwealth are affected by mine drainage;
9 and
10 WHEREAS, This Commonwealth has more abandoned mine lands than
11 any other state in the nation, with more than 250,000 acres of
12 abandoned mine lands, refuse banks and old mine shafts in 45 of
13 the 67 counties; and
14 WHEREAS, The Department of Environmental Protection estimates
15 it will cost more than $15 billion to reclaim and restore
16 abandoned mine lands; and
1 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth now receives about $20 million a
2 year from the Federal Government for reclamation projects; and
3 WHEREAS, There is now a $1.5 billion balance in the Federal
4 Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund that is set aside by law
5 to take care of pollution and safety problems caused by old coal
6 mines; and
7 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania is the fourth largest coal-producing
8 state in the nation and coal operators contribute significantly
9 to the fund by paying a special fee for each ton of coal they
10 mine; and
11 WHEREAS, The Department of Environmental Protection and 39
12 county conservation districts through the Western and Eastern
13 Pennsylvania Coalitions for Abandoned Mine Reclamation have
14 worked as partners to improve the effectiveness of mine
15 reclamation programs; and
16 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth does not seek to rely on the
17 Federal appropriation to solve the abandoned mine lands problem
18 in this State and has enacted the Growing Greener program which
19 has provided additional money for mine reclamation activities;
20 and
21 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth has been working with the
22 Interstate Mining Compact Commission, the National Association
23 of Abandoned Mine Land Programs and other states to free more of
24 these funds to clean up abandoned mine lands; and
25 WHEREAS, Making more funds available to states for abandoned
26 mine reclamation should preserve the interest revenues now being
27 made available for the United Mine Workers Combined Benefit
28 Fund; and
29 WHEREAS, The Federal Office of Surface Mining, the United
30 States Environmental Protection Agency and the Congress of the
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1 United States have not agreed to make more funds available to
2 states for abandoned mine reclamation; therefore be it
3 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
4 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the President and Congress of
5 the United States to make the $1.5 billion of Federal moneys
6 already earmarked for abandoned mine land reclamation available
7 to states to clean up and make safe abandoned mine lands; and be
8 it further
9 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
10 the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
11 each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
12 Pennsylvania.
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