The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (WVDEP) Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation (AML) is taking applications for a portion of $25 million in grant funding available for economic development projects.
The economic development projects must be located on or adjacent to mine sites that ceased operations prior to the signing of the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) on August 3, 1977. A map of known AML sites in West Virginia can be found here.
The grant application and additional information on the grant funding is available on the WVDEP website. Completed applications are due July 1. The WVDEP is ultimately responsible for determining which projects get funded, working with an advisory committee made up of representatives from the West Virginia Department of Commerce, WV Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Office. Recipients of grant funding could be announced as early as September.
Since 2016, 28 projects have received a total of $80 million dollars in grant funding through this program. Those projects are located in Boone, Clay, Kanawha, Fayette, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Preston, Raleigh, and Tucker counties.
The grant funding, provided by the federal government, is being administered by AML and all funding must be approved by the US Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSMRE).
