[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 127 (Monday, September 16, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10598-S10599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ACID MINE DRAINAGE

  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I was pleased to be able to offer this 
amendment on behalf of myself and Senator Mikulski to provide the State 
of Maryland with the flexibility and additional resources needed to 
clean up environmental problems associated with acid mine drainage from 
abandoned coal mines. Specifically, my amendment would allow the State 
of Maryland to set aside the greater of $1 million or 10 percent of the 
funds received under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 
1977 for use in undertaking acid mine drainage abatement and treatment 
projects.
  There are over 450 miles of rivers and streams in Maryland which are 
contaminated by acid mine drainage.

[[Page S10599]]

 Much of the north branch of the Potomac River, from its headwaters 
near Kempton, MD, to the Jennings Randolph Lake is biologically dead. 
The Kempton mine alone contributes 3 million gallons of acid mine 
drainage to the Potomac each day and estimates to clean up this problem 
run as high as $80 million.
  Section 402 (g)(6)(B) of SMCRA authorizes States to set aside up to 
10 percent of their annual title IV abandoned mine land reclamation 
allocation into a special interest-bearing account for addressing 
adverse environmental effects caused by abandoned mine drainage. For a 
minimum program State like Maryland, which receives only $1.5 million 
in AML funds a year, 10 percent is clearly insufficient to address our 
State's acid mine drainage problems.
  My amendment will not authorize or appropriate any new money to be 
expended for acid mine drainage. It will provide greater flexibility 
for Maryland to use its existing AML funds for acid mine drainage 
abatement as well as health and safety problems and help address the 
most serious environmental problem facing the western region of my 
State.

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