by Eric de Place and Julia Stone | Aug 17, 2023 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Natural Gas, Orphaned Oil & Gas Wells, Repairing the Damage
If it were its own country, Appalachia would be the third-largest producer of natural gas in the world, behind only Russia and the rest of the United States. And, as new measurements reveal, Appalachia is likely the source of more system-wide fossil fuel...
by Rebecca Shelton and Eric Dixon | Feb 19, 2023 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts
In a new report from the Ohio River Valley Institute and Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, we estimate it will cost $450 to 950 million to rebuild homes affected by the flood, depending on how many homes are relocated to less flood-prone areas. Our report finds...
by Eric Dixon | Aug 18, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
In March, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) hosted the Secretaries of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy on a tour of West Virginia’s coalfields. After visiting a proposed steel mill in Mason County, they visited a center that educates the...
by Eric Dixon | Aug 18, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
“After decades of delay and decline, America’s workers stand ready to rebuild our country.” That’s what AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as she joined President Joe Biden in the Rose Garden. At the signing ceremony, the...
by Eric Dixon | Feb 7, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage
Congress made an historic investment in coal abandoned mine land (AML) cleanup with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). In the coming months, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) will issue the official guidance...
by Eric Dixon | Feb 7, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
In November 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which made historic investments in the reclamation of land and water damaged by the coal industry before 1977. We have found that while the bill will only address about half of...
by Eric Dixon | Jul 13, 2021 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
On Friday, US Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) released a new version of his proposed energy infrastructure package. The previous version of his proposal included $11.3 billion in federal funds to clean up damage from Abandoned Mine Lands (AMLs) across the country. The new...
by Ben Hunkler | Jun 29, 2021 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) pointed to a recent Ohio River Valley Institute report in a Senate committee last week on the huge economic opportunities of abandoned coal mine reclamation. “The Department of the Interior estimates the cost to complete [abandoned mine...
by Eric Dixon | Jun 7, 2021 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
This post is the second in a four-part series based on a recent ORVI report on abandoned mine land (AML) issues. Figures cited below can be found in the accompanying report. Abandoned coal mines have damaged thousands of acres of land, polluted hundreds of miles of...
by Eric Dixon | Apr 14, 2021 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Repairing the Damage, Reports, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
Download report Download summary For more than 200 years, the coal industry extracted billions of tons of coal in the US, damaging thousands of acres of land and water and leaving much of it unreclaimed. In this report, I demonstrate why it is critical to...
