Arkansas has received a more than $1.7 million boost to its annual grant for reclaiming abandoned coal mines, federal officials announced Tuesday.
The additional funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act brings Arkansas’ total Abandoned Mine Land grant dollars to more than $4.5 million for fiscal year 2022.
The federal act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, includes a $16 billion package to address legacy pollution from defunct coal mines and oil and gas wells. The funding from the act will be spread out over the next 15 years, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement said in a news release Tuesday.
“Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we have this once-in-a-generation investment to address the majority of abandoned mine lands problems,” said Glenda Owens, deputy director of the federal office in the statement. “The reclamation landscape of tomorrow presents endless opportunities to revitalize the coal communities as our country transitions to clean energy.” Federal officials already have released the $1,700,314 earmarked for Arkansas by the act. Arkansas will also be able to apply $2,826,405 from its Abandoned Mine Land grant towards remediating abandoned mines, said Judith LaVoie, spokeswoman for the federal office, in an email Wednesday.
Arkansas’ Department of Energy and Environment is responsible for administering the federal funding. The $1.7 million grant will go towards restoring treatment systems for acid drainage from two former mines. One of the mines is near Midland and the other near Hartford in Sebastian County, according to a statement provided by spokeswoman Beth Thompson on Wednesday from the state’s Division of Energy and Mineral Resources — Office of Mining.
Acid drainage may occur when water comes in contact with rocks left over from mining operations. The water and sulfur-bearing minerals in the exposed rock can interact to form sulfuric acid which can leach heavy metals from the rocks. The resulting toxic slurry may be harmful to humans and the environment, according to documentation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Arkansas does not have any active coal mines. The Department of Energy and Environment has completed 157 mine reclamation projects in Arkansas, according to a list provided by Thompson.
Allocations from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for mine reclamation are based on the number of tons of coal produced in each state or on Indian lands before Aug. 3, 1977.
Pennsylvania received the largest grant through the infrastructure law in fiscal year 2022 at nearly $245 million. West Virginia saw the second largest allocation at more than $140 million, according to documentation from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.