PIKEVILLE (KT) — State representatives and other advocates from Kentucky and seven other states are currently lobbying this week in Washington, D.C., in support of legislation they say could revitalize coal-impacted communities across the country, including Appalachia.

The 2019 RECLAIM Act (H.R. 2156) would commit $1 billion to reclaim land and water resources affected by abandoned coal mines and coal mining that was carried out before Aug. 3, 1977. The money, which has already been collected in a coal mining reclamation trust fund, would go toward cleaning up areas affected by the abandoned mines and fund community projects aimed at revitalizing those areas for future economic development.

States impacted by this legislation include Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Colorado, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Abandoned mine lands are lands, waters and surrounding watersheds contaminated or scarred by the extraction, benefaction or processing of coal, ores and minerals, and mining or processing activity has stopped in these areas. There are currently about 48,500 abandoned coal mines in the United States, and 60 percent of these mines can be found in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. Most of these mines are located on state-owned land, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

Supported by nearly 40 bipartisan cosponsors, the bill has been praised by state legislators and activists for its planned effectiveness in getting former coal miners back to work. Rep. Matt Cartwright, who represents coal-impacted communities in Pennsylvania, said some of the water sources around the abandoned coal mines have turned orange from contamination caused by the mine and old mining practices.

According to Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, abandoned coal mines can cause hazardous conditions, including steep cliffs, abandoned buildings and equipment, water-filled pits and unstable piles of waste coal and dirt. Underground fires and abandoned mine shafts can also cause the ground to collapse without warning.

“There’s really no reason to delay this bill,” Cartwright said, during a teleconference with another representative and other activists in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Rep. Angie Hatton, who represents part of Pike County and Letcher County, is the daughter of a coal miner. She said a “mass exodus” has taken place in Eastern Kentucky, in which former coal mining employees in Appalachia have been forced to leave their homes to find work elsewhere. She said some of the poorest counties in the country are located in Eastern Kentucky because many people have been negatively affected by the region losing two-thirds of its coal mining jobs since 2011.

“Those jobs are, by and large, gone, and no jobs have taken their place since then,” Hatton said. “My people are moving away because we are unable to feed our families. The people of Appalachia, we are a very proud people, and we aren’t ones to ask for handouts, but we are in a very desperate need for a handout in this case. We need that help now.”

Tax dollars would not be used to fund the reclamation efforts. The $1 billion would be distributed from the coal mining trust fund to the eight states over fiscal years 2020-24, amounting to about $216 million designated to Eastern Kentucky communities in its first year, according to the bill.

Funding to the eight states would be designated for projects in communities that have been “adversely affected economically by a recent reduction in coal mining related activity,” “have historically relied on coal mining for a substantial portion of its economy” and where “the economic contribution of coal mining has significantly declined,” according to the bill.

Hatton said there were “so many possibilities” for economic growth to help the Appalachian area with the bill after the impacted areas are cleaned.