By Andy McAllister, Regional Coordinator, Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation
You may recall the November 2012 Abandoned Mine Post where I related the story of the threat of sequestration and how it could affect the state’s funding levels for abandoned mine reclamation. After receiving that Abandoned Mine Post, many of you contacted your federal legislators in defense of the AML Fund.
In early January, the White House and Congress reached a deal to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” where automatic spending cuts were to take place. As part of that deal, those automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, were to be delayed until March, 2013. With March just around the corner, we face the threat of sequestration once again. And, with sequestration looming once more, Pennsylvania’s annual AML fund grant through the Surface mining and reclamation act, is on the chopping block…again.
It is important to note that the AML Trust Fund is not a tax and is not funded from the US Treasury. The fees collected and deposited into the federal AML Trust Fund are derived from a per-ton fee assessed on each ton of coal mined by the active mining industry and can only be used for purposes authorized under Title IV of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). Sequestering these funds would not benefit the federal budget deficit and would result in negative environmental and economic consequences. Sequestering the state’s annual AML grant would slow the state’s progress in eliminating its legacy of mining hazards and in restoring mine drainage impacted streams. Fewer AML/AMD contracts would be awarded, thereby reducing local employment
If Congress does nothing to address budgetary problems and spending by March 1, 2013, sequestration is slated to take effect by the end of March 2013 and the annual AML grant to Pennsylvania is one of those programs slated to be cut.
Current estimates are that the AML fund grants to Pennsylvania will take a hit of anywhere from 7% to a 15% reduction under sequestration. This is monumental considering the state’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR) depends mostly on the annual AML fund grants that are put in place by law.
Without knowing what the future holds, it’s hard to plan reclamation projects. That’s the predicament in which the DEP’s BAMR finds itself. BAMR isn’t the only Bureau within DEP that could be hit. The Bureau of Conservation and Restoration, which administers the Title IV set aside funding to work on AMD projects, could see a serious decline in funding as well. If sequestration occurs and PA’s AML fund grant is cut, it stands to follow that the amount of set aside, used to work on Abandoned Mine Drainage projects would decrease.
Another effect of sequestration would be a reduction in funding for SMCRA Title V grants to Pennsylvania, affecting the Bureau of Mining Reclamation, the bureau that oversees active mining operations.
Overall, the cuts that would take place under sequestration will have severe consequences on our state’s ability to run effective programs under SMCRA.
With all of the positive work being done by our reclamation community, it is imperative that annual grants to Pennsylvania under SMCRA not be curtailed.
How can we expect to continue improving our AMD-impacted streams and improve the quality of our environment and our lives without the full funding assured by SMCRA and the set aside provisions set forth in SMCRA?
Congress needs to maintain its commitment to the role the state plays in carrying out the purposes and objectives of SMCRA. Pennsylvania’s AML grant under SMCRA should not be part of sequestration. Our State agencies and our abandoned mine reclamation community as a whole, have demonstrated efficient and effective use of limited resources for the greatest environmental benefit.
Please act now and send an email to your federal legislators and tell them how important SMCRA Title IV funding and the Set Aside is to Pennsylvania and show your support for abandoned mine reclamation work in Pennsylvania.
You can find contact information for your federal legislators at the following sites:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC
Some late-breaking news: During the writing of this article on Feb 21, 2013, the US Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), the federal agency charged with distributing the AML Fund grants to the states, issued a press release saying that they are issuing 90% of the current AML Fund grant to Pennsylvania, reserving 10% pending the sequester. This is some good news, however, with the amount of reclamation work that still needs to be done in the state, Pennsylvania needs every single dollar that SMCRA authorizes.
Read the OSMRE press release here: http://www.osmre.gov/resources/newsroom/News/Archive/2013/022113.pdf
Contact your federal legislators and let them know that abandoned mine reclamation is important to Pennsylvanians!
