Some states could soon be seeing funding meant to clean up water sources that have been contaminated by runoff from thousands of abandoned coal mines, the Associated Press reported.
According to the Interior Department, among states needing the funding are Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. The money in the bill is meant to be distributed over 15 years, and experts said it would go a long way toward cleaning up mines that date to before 1977. Fees from companies to clean up the sites are collected under the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1977, which sought to remedy the history of unregulated coal production that left abandoned mines around the country. Companies are now regulated so that sites are cleaned up once mining stops.
The problem has persisted for so long that some Pennsylvania residents are surprised when red streams in their backyard are finally cleaned up and change color, said John Stefanko of the Office of Active and Abandoned Mine Operations in Pennsylvania.
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