President Donald Trump has called for a coal revival, but states are still grappling with the costly process of cleaning up mines that pose a public threats.
That includes West Virginia, where state officials are working to get a better understanding of the total cleanup cost tied to coal mines dotting the Appalachian landscape.
The Interior Department on Monday signed off on the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s plan to begin tracking mining companies’ liabilities, including water treatment, starting Aug. 27. The state agency is doing so to show their program is complying with federal law.
Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, or OSMRE, also approved the state’s plan to shift how it accounts for liabilities. Instead of only looking at remediated sites, West Virginia will now consider potential costs at all permitted mines, according to documents published in the Federal Register.
