For the third year in a row, Pennsylvania has secured nearly $245 million to deal with abandoned mine lands. The funding is used for projects such as removing huge coal waste piles and leveling cliffs on the landscape left by coal companies and dealing with mine subsidence issues.
Pennsylvania has the largest inventory of abandoned coal mines in the country and is receiving significantly more money than any other state from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for cleanups.
“That law really supercharged our reclamation efforts,” said Neil Shader, spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection, “and really helped kickstart both a lot of reclamation and stream cleanups.”
Abandoned mine lands impact 288,000 acres in Pennsylvania, and pollution draining through mines affects more than 5,500 miles of rivers and streams in the state, according to Shader.
“If you’re ever driving through western Pennsylvania and see some orange creeks, that’s probably a result of abandoned mine discharge,” Shader said. “And there’s funding that is going to be set aside to help address those.”
He said $73 million of the state’s BIL annual allotment goes for stream restoration through water treatment projects.
In total, the state expects $3.8 billion over 15 years for coal mine cleanups from the infrastructure law.
The challenge of spending so much money
“One of the biggest challenges is just being able to spend it,” Shader said. “And getting contracts out the door and getting ground broken.”
Since Pennsylvania started receiving the BIL money in January 2023, DEP reports that more than 140 reclamation projects have been completed or are underway.
The agency has added 62 new positions since September 2024. It also needs contractors that can do the work. “There’s a limited pool of contractors out there. Unfortunately, we can’t snap our fingers and make everyone appear,” Shader said.
