With this round of funding, PA has received more than $735 million to clean up abandoned mine lands
One third of the Nation’s abandoned mine land is in Pennsylvania, impacting as many as 1.4 million residents in 43 of PA’s 67 counties
Funding to clean up abandoned mine land comes from Casey-backed infrastructure law
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) secured $245,082,772 to clean up abandoned mine lands across Pennsylvania. This third round of funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior will help create good-paying jobs in rural and energy communities across the Commonwealth, reclaim abandoned mine lands, and mitigate the health hazards and environmental pollution from legacy mining sites. The funding was made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Casey fought to pass.
“I have long fought to help Pennsylvania’s coal communities overcome the legacy of abandoned mine pollution, which has ravaged landscapes, damaged property, and threatened the health of far too many Pennsylvanians,” said Senator Casey. “Thanks to the infrastructure law, we can continue cleaning up this land, create good-paying jobs and boost our Commonwealth’s economy. These communities built and powered our Nation for decades and I will keep working to ensure that they are not left behind.”
Senator Casey has long advocated for abandoned mine cleanup across the Commonwealth. With this round of funding, Pennsylvania has received more than $735 million from the IIJA to clean up abandoned mine lands. In January 2022, after delivering $244 million in an initial round of funding for abandoned mine cleanup, Casey spoke to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland about the need for additional flexibility during her visit to Swoyersville, PA, allowing states to use their acid mine drainage (AMD) set-aside programs to mitigate environmental hazards acid mine drainage. Casey also passed the STREAM Act to allow states more flexibility to use funding from the infrastructure law to address long-term impacts of abandoned mine land including AMD, which pollutes Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams. In addition to voting to pass the infrastructure law, in April 2021, Casey introduced legislation to extend abandoned mine land cleanup funding and to provide a boost for coal reclamation projects that provide economic development and growth in communities impacted by the downturn in the coal industry.
In June 2024, Senator Casey announced more than $28.6 million from the Department of the Interior’s Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) Program. In March 2024, Casey delivered $90 million from the infrastructure law to build solar facilities on former mine lands in Clearfield County. The Mineral Basin solar project is expected to produce enough energy to power 70,000 homes per year. In May 2022, Casey announced $26.6 million from the AMLER Program.
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