Mine land cleanup faces federal delays
(The Center Square) — Even though federal money to reclaim mine lands in Appalachia has been slow to arrive, some states have made progress on improvement plans from a generation ago nonetheless. Efforts have turned watersheds into fisheries when they were dead 30 years ago. And some states have streamlined the reclamation process, supporting local groups limited by a lack of manpower. For mine land cleanup, the Department of the Interior has three programs states can use: an abandoned mine land fund based on fees from coal production; funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure ...