Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the consideration of what was two amendments that we just merged into one because they went hand- in-glove. My amendment restores critical funding to three additional Appalachian States, the same number of States currently funded by the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, for the reclamation of abandoned mine lands in conjunction with economic and community development and reuse goals. Now, let me explain the program quickly. This was the brainchild of Chairman Rogers a couple of years back, and what the idea was, originally, when they did the Abandoned Mine Land program, you could just restore the land. They came up with the concept in the hard-hit devastated areas of central Appalachia that we should not only allow it to be a restoration of the land, but that that land could be used and looked at as an economic purpose, a reuse the community could use for community development or economic development, and that was important. Funding for these reclamation grants was first established in fiscal year 2016, but it was originally provided only to the three Appalachian States with the greatest amount of unfunded reclamation needs. Unfortunately, that didn't, of course, reach all the States, and so last year, an additional three States were added, those States being Virginia, Ohio, Alabama, the original three being Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky. This year, as things were working through, Virginia, Ohio, and Alabama were not currently included.…”