Progress Report 9

Progress Report No. 9
(May 8, 2000)

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Copyright© Coal Creek Watershed Foundation, Inc. 2000 through 2021
CELEBRATING OUR 21st YEAR!!

As many of you know, the Coal Creek Flood Prevention Committee (CCFPC) organized at about the same time as CCCSI to encourage Anderson County to remove obstructions from the stream to reduce flooding. On Monday night, CCFPC held a town meeting in Briceville. Rex Lynch (Anderson County Executive), Todd Johnson (Anderson County Engineer) and I met with about 30 members of CCFPC beginning at 7:00 pm. Rev. Roy Daugherty (Chairman), Floyd Hatmaker, Roger Hooks, and Phil Craig were some of the Committee leaders present. I made a presentation on CCCSI and our attempts to obtain grant money from OSM to reclaim abandoned mine lands in the Coal Creek watershed to improve water quality. In addition to improving water quality, the reclamation work will reduce, but not eliminate, the potential for downstream flooding.

The bottom line from the meeting was that CCFPC voted unanimously to support CCCSI. Two of the CCFPC members volunteered to show me other abandoned mine land sites that might qualify for OSM reclamation funds. CCFPC members said they would also provide volunteers to serve on our local CCCSI committee. Anderson County will examine the short-term flooding concerns of the residents. I volunteered to help with the study of the current flooding problems.

After the meeting, I talked to several of the residents about the conditions in the watershed. They all thanked CCCSI for what we did for the kids on Watershed Day and they want CCCSI to succeed.

Before the meeting, I drove up Beech Grove Fork. In addition to the work performed in cleaning up trash on Watershed Day, the Anderson County work crews came back on Monday and removed trash from other areas of Beech Grove Fork. It looked great!

More great news! The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), and the National Energy Technology Lab (NETL) are convening the first Coal Region Restoration Roundtable for June 6 through 8 in Shepherdstown, WV. The intent of the National Roundtable is "to provide a unified voice as feedback to public and legislative agencies on successes and issues facing local watershed groups who are working to restore their watersheds." I have been invited to represent CCCSI at the meeting, with all expenses paid by the agencies.

The first two days of the meeting will include presentations by the various watershed groups, invited Congressmen, and government agency officials, including Dr. Allan Comp from OSM who recently endorsed our broad-based mission in Coal Creek. Time has been reserved for working in groups. On the last day of the meeting, we will travel to Washington to meet with key federal officials to share our strategies, ideas, and concerns.

My primary goal at this meeting will be to understand how appropriations are made by Congress from the $1.6 Billion abandoned mine land reclamation (AMLR) fund. I understand that this fund was built from money paid by active coal mining companies for the intended purpose of reclaiming coal mined lands abandoned before 1977. The AMLR fund continues to grow at an average rate of about 25 cents for every ton of coal that is mined in this country. I also understand that only a fraction of this money is used for actual AMLR work. Congress appropriates the remaining money to non-AMLR related projects. I want somebody to explain to me what could possibly be more important than improving the quality of life for the kids we have met in the Coal Creek watershed. I want to understand the rationale of robbing money from the AMLR fund to pay for non-AMLR related projects which do not benefit the kids in the Coal Creek watershed.

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