As coal communities grapple with existing economic decline and public health risks made significantly worse by the COVID-19 crisis, the Revitalizing the Economy of Coal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investing More Act (RECLAIM) Act as well as legislation to reauthorize the Abandoned Mine Lands fund have been re-introduced in the House and Senate with bipartisan support to spur immediate job creation and help ensure coal country is a part of the economic recovery. And it is moving! The RECLAIM Act and AML reauthorization were heard in the House Natural Resource Committee on May 27 (ad more after hearing).

Roger Carver (who worked in coal mining in the Nucla area for 24 years and served as president of the United Mine Workers local union) says, “As a former coal miner and resident of a coal community dealing with the closing of both a plant and a mine, I am glad to see Congress move forward with mine reclamation funding. The RECLAIM Act and the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund have long had bipartisan support and will help communities like Nucla move forward into the future. RECLAIM alone will bring $27 million in investment back to Colorado’s coal communities to put miners back to work cleaning up old mines and diversifying our rural economies. It’s time to move forward, not backwards, and invest in the better future for our kids.”

The introduction of this legislation provides Congress with a bipartisan step forward to turn that potential into reality. Along with investing in the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, reauthorizing the Abandoned Mine Land Fund and passing the RECLAIM Act would be a start to the important work to ensure an equitable and sustainable economic future in coal communities and a bipartisan victory for the people and places that powered our country for generations.

Communities across the United States that have historically depended on the coal industry have been hit doubly hard in the last year, with more mines and coal plants expected to close as the coal economy’s decline is accelerated by COVID-19. By investing $1 billion in projects to clean up abandoned coal mines and the waters they pollute in 20 states, the bipartisan RECLAIM Act is a vital step toward strengthening our infrastructure, creating thousands of new jobs, and sparking economic development and recovery in coal communities across the country.

It is estimated that over $60 million would be distributed to Colorado communities alone and help make our own Colorado Just Transition Action plan a reality.

As the urgent need to act grows, so has momentum for reclamation opportunities. In the Executive Order signed in January, President Biden recognized the economic development and job creation possibilities created by reclamation. Now, with the American Jobs Act introduced in Congress and a historic infrastructure package in the works, RECLAIM is closer to passage than it has been in decades. With bills like RECLAIM, we are taking real steps to “build back better” and create a healthy, just and self-reliant economy for Western Colorado and all of rural America.

Stay tuned for ways to support this major federal legislation throughout the summer!