Grants To Clean Up Abandoned Coal Mines

{Washington, D.C.}...Thursday, the Department of Interior and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced nearly a half a billion dollars in grants for states and tribes to eliminate health and safety hazards caused by past coal mining. West Virginia is getting about $66.5 million to clean up abandoned coal mines. Since 1977, the office has provided more than $7.2 billion to help reclaim more than 295,000 acres of abandoned mine sites.