US House passes bill to free up infrastructure funding to fight acid mine drainage

The STREAM Act would authorize states to allot up to 30% of their annual abandoned mine land funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into an interest-bearing account for acid mine drainage treatment.

The bill passed on a 391-9 vote Friday. Reps. David McKinley, Alex Mooney and Carol Miller, all R-W.Va., voted for the legislation, which was introduced in the House in March.

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., co-sponsored a Senate version of the bill.

The legislation was crafted after the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement said the infrastructure law does not allow states to direct funds it provides for cleanup funding into set-aside accounts that cover acid mine drainage treatment costs.

Environmental and stream restoration groups have urged passage of the STREAM Act, calling it a critical step in the fight against acid mine drainage in Appalachia.

Amanda Pitzer, executive director of Friends of the Cheat, a Kingwood-based watershed nonprofit, said that organizations like hers could not access new federal investments to build on its work to clean up acid mine drainage in the Cheat River’s tributaries without the STREAM Act.

“[W]e hope our senators follow through by passing this bipartisan bill promptly to unlock these dollars so they start to have a positive impact across West Virginia,” Pitzer said in a statement.

Chelsea Barnes, legislative director of Appalachian Voices, called the bill a “common-sense solution to a decades-long crisis.”

“No one should have to live in a community threatened by polluted water,” Barnes said in a statement.

Friends of Blackwater, Friends of the Cheat, Friends of Deckers Creek, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and the West Virginia Water Research Institute were among the organizations to endorse the Senate and House versions of the STREAM Act in March.

The House version of the STREAM Act was introduced by McKinley and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.

Manchin’s office has projected that the infrastructure law will provide more than $1 billion for West Virginia to address more than 140,000 acres of abandoned mine land sites and more than 1,500 miles of streams contaminated from acid mine drainage.

The federal infrastructure law provides $11.29 billion in abandoned mine land grant funding over 15 years to eligible states and tribes.

The Department of the Interior and proponents of the legislation say abandoned mine reclamation projects will support jobs by investing in projects that close hazardous mine shafts, reclaim unstable slopes and boost water quality by treating acid mine drainage.