Pennsylvania Campaign on Abandoned Mine Land; AML Coalition Tells Lame Duck US House, Senate: Your Job's Not Done - Pass Bill Now to Re-Authorize Clean Up of Dangerous Abandoned Mine Land.

ALEXANDRIA, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania AML Campaign, a coalition of 200 conservation and community organizations, today called on the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation to return to Washington next week with one goal Co passing legislation requiring the coal industry to continue paying into a federal fund dedicated to helping Pennsylvania and other states clean up dangerous and polluting abandoned mine lands.

R. John Dawes, Co-Chair of the PA AML Campaign, said, "While the election is over and some won't return next year, our Senators and members of Congress still have an obligation to not abandon Pennsylvania with the nation's largest legacy of damage from the coal industry. The bi-partisan legislation to fix the problem has widespread support - it's time to get serious and pass it now.

"Earlier this year, the bill was set for passage, but it was amended onto unrelated and controversial legislation, dooming passage of AML in the regular session of Congress," continued Dawes. "The outgoing Congressional leadership is going to assure that some legislation is enacted in the lame duck session that begins Monday, including some non-controversial proposals that the AML re-authorization had originally been paired with. So now, it is up to our Pennsylvania delegation to convince House and Senate leaders that AML must be part of the legislation package that Congress passes and sends to President Bush this year."

The $3.9 billion, self-funded 10-year provision would guarantee that fees paid by coal companies are used to clean up abandoned mines and polluted waters and pay for the health benefits of retired miners from now-bankrupt companies. Coal companies have been paying fees since 1977 for cleaning up abandoned mine problems, but the money has increasingly been used for purposes unrelated to reclamation. The new bill would reduce coal companies' fees by 20 percent. Support for the new legislation is widespread in Pennsylvania, with 31 of the state's 67 counties passing resolutions calling for immediate reauthorization of the AML program.

Nearly 1.4 million Pennsylvanians live within a mile of an abandoned mine land site, with at least 44 counties affected by abandoned coal mines. Pennsylvania's landscape is scarred with over 5,000 documented abandoned mine sites - encompassing more than 250,000 acres. Acidic drainage from these abandoned mines has resulted in 4,600 miles of biologically dead streams.

These sites are often dangerous, with high walls and cliffs, flooded pits and open mine mouths creating hazards that can maim or kill. In 2004, then U.S. Interior Department estimated that least 45 deaths and 19 injuries at abandoned mine sites have occurred just in the anthracite mine region of Pennsylvania in the past 30 years.

Although Pennsylvania leads the nation in developing and implementing new strategies to clean up abandoned mine lands, the enormity of the problem is staggering. As of February 2006, Pennsylvania's clean up costs are at least $ 15 billion according to calculations of the PA Department of Environmental Protection.

"The health, environment and economy of Pennsylvanians are on the line," said PA AML Campaign Co-Chair Cynthia Carrow. "Congress needs to do its job and pass this critically needed, job-creating program before the end of the lame duck session."