STREAM Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7283) to amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to make certain activities eligible for grants from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in

which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7283, the Safeguarding Treatment for the Restoration of Ecosystems from Abandoned Mines Act, or the STREAM Act, introduced by our colleague, Representative Cartwright of Pennsylvania.

The STREAM Act makes a technical correction to existing Federal law so that States and Tribes can use a portion of the $11.3 billion that Congress has already appropriated for abandoned coal mine cleanup to restore streams that are polluted by acid mine drainage.

Acid mine drainage is heavily polluted water that flows out of abandoned coal mines into streams, making them toxic to all wildlife and often turning them a bright and unnatural orange.

Acid mine drainage renders streams biologically dead. They become unusable, undrinkable, unfishable, and unswimmable. It also severely limits a region's potential economic growth.

Thankfully, we know how to clean up this type of mining pollution, and we know that doing so will bring enormous benefits to impacted communities.

Investments made by existing Federal law for cleaning up abandoned coal mines are expected to create over 4,000 jobs a year over the next 15 years. That is 60,000 new, good-paying jobs in communities left behind by the coal industry.

Cleaning up acid mine drainage also restores natural areas and brings back wildlife. Under the existing Abandoned Mine Land Program run by the Department of the Interior, eligible States and Tribes can set aside 30 percent of their annual funding allocations to cover the long- term costs of operating acid mine drainage treatment facilities.

Unfortunately, newer Federal law passed in this Congress does not currently give States and Tribes the same authority for the $11.3 billion in supplemental funds.

The STREAM Act corrects this situation, giving States and Tribes the same flexibility to treat this devastating issue with legislation that has been passed in this Congress that they have had under the standard program for years.

I want to emphasize that this legislation does not--I repeat, does not--affect funding levels for any State. It simply changes the way that States may choose to use funds, depending on their individual needs when it comes to acid mine drainage.

The STREAM Act has strong bipartisan support. This legislation passed out of committee with strong bipartisan support and is endorsed by Governors, environmental groups, and the Interstate Mining Compact Commission.

I include in the Record some testimony in support of the STREAM Act from the Interstate Mining Compact Commission and letters of support from Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio, Governor Jim Justice of West Virginia, the Maryland Department of the Environment, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and Trout Unlimited.

Office of the Governor,

Columbus, OH, April 25, 2022.

Hon. Raul M. Grijalva,

Chair, Natural Resources Committee,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Bruce Westerman,

Ranking Member, House Natural Resources Committee, House of

Representatives, Washington DC.

Dear Chairman Grijalva and Ranking Member Westerman: I am

writing to ask for your support of H.R. 7283, the

Safeguarding Treatment for the Restoration of Ecosystems from

Abandoned Mines Act (STREAMS), and its companion bill, S.

3957. These bills clarify that states with acid mine drainage

(AMD) set-aside programs can deposit a portion of the

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Abandoned Mine

Land (AML) grant funds into AMD set-aside accounts. The

authority to do so will improve our nation's water quality.

Ohio has a rich history of mining that began more than 200

years ago when the state was still a territory. It is, in

part, thanks to Ohio's miners and coal resources that the

industrial revolution grew. During the 19th and 20th

Centuries, more than 3.6 billion tons of coal were extracted

from Ohio, and, while mining has been an integral part of

Ohio's past economic prosperity, the after-effects of coal

production still endure.

Although laws and regulations on proper mining practices

and reclamation exist today, that wasn't the case for the

first 100 years of coal mining. Prior to the enactment of our

nation's first mining laws in 1977, mines were often left

abandoned and unreclaimed as mining companies moved on to the

next site. Thousands of abandoned underground mines exist in

Ohio and pose significant geologic hazards, as the acids that

discharge from mined rock leech into our streams and other

waterways.

Thankfully, funding mechanisms have been put in place to

confront this challenge. The IIJA includes $11.3 billion in

new funding for AML reclamation. These funds will

significantly increase states' ability to address legacy

safety and environmental hazards of coal mining.

An important aspect of restoring abandoned mine lands is

remediating acid mine drainage (AMD), which is caused by

surface water flowing over or through mined rock, making the

water highly acidic. AMD is addressed by building water

treatment systems to neutralize acidic water and remove

dissolved metals that harm water quality in streams and

rivers.

However, addressing AMD is different than the safety

hazards caused by AML, because a safety hazard can be

effectively eliminated through a one-time construction

project, but AMD requires a treatment system to be operated,

maintained, and rehabilitated in perpetuity for it to remain

effective. Accordingly, each AMD treatment system that a

state builds represents a long-term liability that must be

funded.

Ohio currently operates and maintains 33 treatment systems

with plans to establish more, and unfortunately, the IIJA

does not provide the ability to set aside a portion of the

funds made available for ongoing AMD remediation. Without

this authority, it will be extremely difficult to responsibly

build the treatment systems necessary to make significant

improvements in water quality that has been harmed by

abandoned coal mines.

H.R. 7283 and S. 3957 would clarify that states with

approved AMD set-aside programs can deposit up to 30% of

annual IIJA grant funds into the AMD set-aside account. This

legislation is imperative to Ohio, along with 10 other states

in the Appalachian and the Midwest regions who are committed

to addressing the legacy safety and environmental hazards of

coal mining.

As the 2021 Chair of the Interstate Mining Compact

Commission and former co-chair of the Appalachian Regional

Commission, I can attest to the importance of this

legislation in addressing water quality issues resulting from

abandoned mines in Ohio. The legislation provides the

flexibility and long-term financial stability necessary to

plan, design, build, operate and maintain critical acid mine

drainage treatment systems.

Again, I ask for your support of this important

legislation. Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Very respectfully yours,

Mike DeWine,

Governor.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Representative Cartwright, for introducing this important bipartisan legislation and working to build such an impressive coalition of support. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 7283, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests at this time. I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding time.

I am addressing H.R. 7283, the Safeguarding Treatment for the Restoration of Ecosystems from Abandoned Mines Act, or the STREAM Act. It has been accurately described up to now as a responsible, commonsense, technical fix to the Department of the Interior's Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Program. It is a small change, but it will have a large, long-lasting, positive effect on State efforts to clean up legacy pollution from coal mining.

Specifically, the bill allows States to hold back 30 percent of existing allocations for long-term operating and maintenance costs of abandoned mine land reclamation.

When rainwater and river water runs over oxidized pyrite in abandoned coal mines, it turns color, and the whole area becomes toxic. The damage can last for hundreds or even thousands of years if nothing is done to fix it.

In my beautiful State of Pennsylvania, acid mine drainage, or AMD, affects over 5,000 miles of waterways. No one wants to live or work near these dead zones in rivers and streams.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission estimates an annual loss of $29 million in revenue from recreational fishing in such areas.

We know how to fix the problem. Cleaning up acid mine drainage always creates jobs, brings back recreation opportunities, boosts local economies, and makes communities healthier and stronger and much more attractive to visitors and new investments.

Acid mine drainage requires costly, ongoing maintenance, and H.R. 7283 helps pay for that ongoing maintenance. It is not a new idea. The legacy Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Program, which has been on the books for years, currently allows States to set aside up to 30 percent of their annual regular abandoned mine lands allocation to cover the long-term costs of operating AMD treatment facilities and maintaining them over the long term.

It is optional, and States have to enact their own programs to engage in the program. Eleven States have done so, so far. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama have chosen to do so.

H.R. 7283 opens the innovation door by making up to 30 percent of all AML funds available for such acid mine drainage projects if States want to go that way.

There is no mandate here. It is their choice. Nothing in current law or the STREAM Act is mandatory, and nothing in the bill raises or authorizes any additional Federal spending for abandoned mine land or acid mine drainage work.

What it gives States is the important option of restoring waterways and maintaining those restoration projects for many years to come.

It is a responsible way to spend this money by extending it out over time so that we don't blow it all at once and then let existing mine reclamation areas fall apart. The STREAM Act can take existing Federal allocations for AML cleanup and make it last a very long time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for his support. I thank Representative McKinley, to be sure, for his leadership in the House on this effort, and I thank all the other bipartisan cosponsors of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise in support of H.R. 7283, the Safeguarding Treatment for the Restoration of Ecosystems from Abandoned Mines Act, also known as the STREAM Act.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act appropriated $11.3 billion to the Abandoned Mine Lands, or the AML, trust fund. This money is for use by State AML programs to address abandoned mine lands created before enactment of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

This historic, fee-based AML program allows a State to set aside up to 30 percent of its annual AML grant in an interest-bearing account to cover the long-term costs of acid mine drainage, or AMD, facilities, which are often needed to address water treatment in historic coal mining states.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act reauthorizes the collection of the AML fee at a reduced rate, as well as a 30 percent set-aside authority for States. However, the IIJA neglected to grant parallel set-aside authority for the newly authorized $11.3 billion in Treasury funds for AML projects.

This is one of the many areas Congress will need to correct in the hastily passed IIJA bill, and it goes to show why we need to have regular order, why we need to have committee hearings, and why we need to take our time on these large bills.

That large IIJA bill never went through a committee in the House. It was sent over from the Senate, hastily adopted, and here we are today, trying to fix it. I am sure it won't be the last time.

The STREAM Act is a bipartisan bill that will make a technical fix to IIJA, clarifying that States receiving newly authorized funds for AML cleanup have the authority to set aside a portion of those funds for AMD cleanup purposes consistent with existing law. This will allow States to utilize AML funds according to their specific needs.

That said, the Department of the Interior recently released final guidance for States applying to receive funds authorized for AML cleanup that includes requirements over and above the letter of the law. DOI should allow States to make decisions on prioritizing AML sites and refrain from imposing unauthorized and heavy-handed requirements.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. McKinley), who is the Republican lead on this legislation and who is also a fellow engineer and knows a lot about coal mining.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers. I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman-in-waiting for the opportunity to address this.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the STREAM Act. Over the last century, American companies have mined coal in at least 26 States across the country. Over that same period of time, thousands of these mines have ceased operation.

Abandoned mines produce acid drainage that, unfortunately, flows into our streams and is toxic. As a result, tens of thousands of miles of streams and waterways across America are being poisoned.

West Virginia alone, according to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, has indicated that we have 1,500 miles of streams that are toxic in West Virginia.

The STREAM Act ensures States have the flexibility to use these federally allocated funds for acid mine drainage cleanup and provides long-term maintenance of these cleanup projects. The bill preserves the use of important guidelines already in place, as you have heard, and simply extends them to recently approved new funding measures.

Making our streams safe is not a partisan issue. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Congressional Coal Caucus, I am proud to be leading the Republican effort, in conjunction with Representative Cartwright, to pass this bipartisan legislation.

For anyone who has never seen these orange, poisoned streams, they will never understand the gravity of the situation. But for those of us that have seen and lived with this devastation that will last for years, decades, into the future, the time to vote ``yes'' is now.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of the STREAM Act, and I encourage a ``yes'' vote.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of S. 3957, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Barrasso substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill, as amended.

I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.