Activists from West Virginia and Kentucky are in the nation’s capitol this week, lobbying in support of the RECLAIM Act.
Since 1978, coal companies have paid billions of dollars into a fund that covers the cost of restoring old abandoned mine sites. The RECLAIM Act would speed up the spending from that fund, releasing an extra billion dollars over five years. That would go toward reclamation projects chosen based on their potential to boost the economy in areas that have lost coal jobs.
Sarah Bowling is among those who flew in from Kentucky. She now lives in Lexington, but grew up around coal mines in Pike County, Kentucky. Bowling said that deciding to transition away from coal doesn’t mean that we as country can just drop the families whose livelihoods depended on the industry for a livelihood.
Karen Williams made the trip from Charleston, West Virginia, and said she believes the RECLAIM act will create jobs and jump-start the economy. Williams said that if we can turn land where coal mines used to be for something productive, that will create jobs and provide the region’s children with hope for the future, and a possibility to remain in the areas where they grew up.
The Sierra Club sponsored the lobbying trip and also conducted a pollthat suggests a lot of people agree with Bowling and Williams— 90% of Kentuckians and 87% of West Virginians said they support the RECLAIM Act.
The bill was introduced by Kentucky’s Congressman Hal Rogers back in February, and has co-sponsors from both parties, including all three of West Virginia’s representatives. Bowling and Williams say they hope the bill will get passed when Congress comes back in session after the election.
