WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers from historic coal mining states in the East and those from where most of the country's coal is now mined in the West are in a billion-dollar fight over how the federal government should divvy up abandoned mine cleanup funding.
After a shift in mining production from the East to the West, Pennsylvania was left with the most abandoned mine land. But Wyoming, which produces the most coal, is the biggest contributor to the federal cleanup fund and gets the most money from it.
Pennsylvania needs $1 billion to restore its high-priority mines, and some other Eastern states need millions. Wyoming, however, is using its share of the Abandoned Mine Land fund for public works projects such as a $17.9 million geology building at the University of Wyoming because its high priority sites were cleaned up years ago.
"It's a complicated, convoluted situation," said Rep. John Peterson, R-Pleasantville, who has introduced legislation that would allocate funding based on which states need it most.
More than 3.5 million people nationwide live less than a mile from coal mines long since abandoned. They contaminate streams with toxic pollutants, and pose a sometimes deadly risk to hikers and off-road vehicles because of their unsteady ground and steep embankments.
A 1977 law, set to expire Sept. 30, mandates that 70 percent of the money generated for abandoned mine land restoration come from a per-ton fee on coal. The money goes to states where the coal was mined, not necessarily where the problems are.
Under that funding formula, officials estimate it will take a century and $3 billion in funding to clean up those mines that the federal government has deemed the most dangerous.
Peterson's bill would repay states without priority cleanup sites for the money they are owed from the fund, which in Wyoming's case is more than $400 million. He said 93 percent of Wyoming's coal is sold to utilities outside the state and the fee is absorbed by utilities and their customers nationwide, so it's not necessarily Wyoming's money anyway.
But Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyoming, said the per-ton fee is primarily paid by the coal companies. The citizens of Wyoming are entitled to the funding they are putting into the program, she said.
Cubin filed her own bill that would continue to steer AML funds back to Wyoming.
"This bill helps every single coal state," Cubin said. "The Peterson bill singles out Wyoming and helps almost every state except Wyoming when Wyoming is paying 40 percent into the fund."
Other states are also interested in what happens to the money.
Some members of Congress from Appalachian states, including Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va., who is the ranking Democrat of the House Resources Committee, have sided with Cubin. That's partly because her bill would expand the guarantee of health-care benefits to thousands more retired miners from the United Mine Workers of America who worked for "orphan" companies that no longer exist.
Currently, about 17,000 retired union miners have pensions from the union's Combined Benefit Fund that is paid for in part with interest earned on AML dollars.
"On the issue of mineworker health care, the Cubin-Rahall bill is clearly superior as it has generated union as well as some industry support for it, which is lacking in other proposals," Rahall said in a statement. "Furthermore, the Cubin-Rahall bill bridges the differences between the Eastern and Western states, making it more politically viable."
The UMWA has endorsed the Cubin-Rahall bill.
Carl Leake, a retired coal miner from Cannelton, W.Va., said that he is blessed to have his retirement but that he worries about other workers he knows who could not have health care if the guarantee of benefits isn't expanded.
"Most people I know even in young ages got black lung and arthritis," Leake said. "It's hazardous work. It's not as bad as it used to be, but it's hazardous."
Jeffrey Jarrett, director of the Office of Surface Mining, said adding the guarantee to thousands more retired miners is not feasible because it would cost more than $200 million annually.
The average age of those in the fund currently being compensated is 80, and the funding for the pension is $70 million a year. Those retired miners who would be added under the Cubin-Rahall bill are younger, and no one knows exactly how many thousands there are, Jarrett said.
"We can't pay for it out of the AML program. We simply don't have the money," Jarrett said.
Peterson said his bill would help the retired miners currently funded by the program because it would remove a $70 million cap that exists on the fund. It would not, however, expand to cover additional miners.
"If the states where the coal is being produced get their money back and those who are funding the mining pensions get what they want, then there's not going to be any money left to do reclamation, which the law's about," Peterson said.
Cubin and Peterson hope the issue can get resolved before the bill expires Sept. 30.
"We both agree the goal doesn't have to be my bill or his bill exactly as they are," Cubin said. "The goal is we have to reauthorize the abandoned mine land fund and the program, and that's our goal."
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