This week, Appalachian Voices and 12 partner organizations are on Capitol Hill to tell Congress to protect our communities by making coal companies clean up their functionally abandoned coal mines, known as zombie mines.
This week, Appalachian Voices and 12 partner organizations are on Capitol Hill to tell Congress to protect our communities by making coal companies clean up their functionally abandoned coal mines, known as zombie mines.
Community advocates from across Pennsylvania and Appalachia celebrated the introduction of two bills by Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Penn., that would take crucial action to address some of the root causes of the “zombie mine” crisis — the increasing number of non-producing modern-era mines that have not been cleaned up by the coal companies responsible for operating them.
This morning, advocates for miners with black lung and their families released a new report detailing how black lung benefit payments have fallen far behind the cost of living, putting ailing miners and their dependents among the most at risk as inflation continues to rise.
With bills on the Hill, proposals from the White House, new reports issued and forthcoming from grassroots advocates, and new projects underway, there is a lot happening when it comes to coal communities and mine cleanup!