Join the BlueGreen Alliance
Help us identify ways to turn today’s environmental challenges into job-creating and economic opportunities!Investing in reclamation and environmental remediation is a huge opportunity to create good union jobs and revitalize communities struggling with energy transition.
The Challenge
Millions of people in the United States live less than a mile from an abandoned coal mine. Abandoned mine land (AML) poses a threat to public safety and the environment in the form of dangerous mine openings, landslides, the collapse of exposed high walls, mine fires, and sinking caused by the deterioration of underground mines.
Additionally, these sites contaminate groundwater and discharge acid into waterways. In impacted areas, there is often a decrease in the fish population and available fish may pose significant uptake of contaminants when consumed. Abandoned coal mines may also cause air pollution issues from methane release and expose local communities to toxins like arsenic and lead.
At the same time, economic challenges exist in many coal communities, which are on the hurting end of our nation’s transition to cleaner, cheaper forms of energy. For generations, coal-dependent areas—whether in Appalachia or surrounding coal plants—have built their economies around coal, not only for the employment of their citizens, but for the revenue that supports their schools, infrastructure, and small businesses. As demand for coal decreases, these communities face an uncertain future.
The Opportunity
Investing in reclamation and environmental remediation is a huge opportunity to create good union jobs and revitalize communities struggling with energy transition. These actions can help communities diversify their local economies by creating space for the development of new industries. Additionally, environmental remediation is essential to reduce and remove pollution in water, air, and soil. The communities most often affected by the impacts of such pollution are low-income communities and communities of color.
Both the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) include unprecedented funding for reclamation and remediation activities. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act includes $3 billion for environmental and climate justice block grants, which can be used for community-led monitoring and remediation of emissions and facilitating the engagement of disadvantaged communities in federal and state policymaking. Likewise, BIL provides $16 billion in funding for environmental remediation—including abandoned coal mine reclamation funding and orphaned well cleanup—and authorizes a new abandoned hardrock mine cleanup fund. It also reauthorizes the AML fee for abandoned coal mines. The bill includes language that prioritizes hiring dislocated coal workers for AML projects and encourages bids from unionized contractors.
Reclamation not only remediates the host of environmental and health problems associated with these sites but also frees up that land for new projects and creates immediate job opportunities. A BlueGreen Alliance analysis found that the BIL’s $21 billion investment in the remediation of Superfund, Brownfield, mine reclamation, and orphaned wells would create more than 150,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs over the next 10 years. In March 2023, the U.S. Department of the Interior also announced $135 million to continue to fund the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) grant program, which will be used to bring good jobs to hard-hit communities through economic development projects tied to the remediation of abandoned mine lands.
Key Facts
$500 Million The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law designates $500 million for clean energy demonstration projects on current or former mine land. This program focuses on enabling manufacturers to build advanced energy product facilities in communities where coal mines have closed. (Source)
150,000 Jobs The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $21 billion in the remediation of Superfund, Brownfield, mine reclamation, and orphaned wells. This is expected to create 150,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs over the next decade. (Source)