U.S. Department of the Interior Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

West Virginia, Surrounding States Get Millions To Cap Oil, Gas Wells

Orphaned wells can contaminate groundwater and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

The federal government has awarded a round of funding to cap orphaned oil and gas wells in West Virginia.

The U.S. Department of the Interior is sending $25 million to West Virginia, which will be used to address 160 sites.

It’s part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Congress passed and the president signed last year.

Orphaned wells can contaminate groundwater and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

West Virginia likely has thousands of them, but the exact number isn’t known.

The federal dollars will help the state identify and clean up additional sites.

Orphaned wells can be costly to fix. On average, it costs $55,000 to cap a well, usually with concrete. Depth is a major factor driving the cost.

Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania also received funding to cap orphaned wells. The states are set to receive even more funding in the coming months.

State To Receive $140 Million In Federal Funds For Mine Cleanup

West Virginia will get more than $140 million for mine reclamation from the bipartisan infrastructure law Congress passed last year.

The funding will help eliminate a backlog of tens of thousands of mines abandoned before 1977.

It supplements a per-ton tax on coal that supports the Abandoned Mine Land Trust Fund.

Only Pennsylvania will receive a bigger share of the total funding than West Virginia.

Nationwide, $725 million a year will be available for states and tribes for the next 15 years.

The funding will create jobs in coalfield communities and improve the environment, according to the U.S Department of the Interior. It can support projects to eliminate methane emissions from mine sites, close dangerous mine shafts and treat acid mine drainage.

The department will release guidance on applying for the funds in the coming weeks.

W.Va. DEP Accepting Applications for Abandoned Mine Land Grants

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation is accepting applications for grant funding to redevelop abandoned mine lands through July 1, 2019.

The agency says $25 million in grant funding is available through the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement for economic development projects on abandoned mine lands across the state.

Projects must be located on or adjacent to mine sites that ceased operations prior to August 1977.

According to a press release, since 2016, 28 projects in 13 West Virginia counties have received $80 million in grant funding.

The grant application and more information can be found online on the WVDEP’s website.

Marshall University Fined for Violating Indian Remains Law

A university in West Virginia has been fined $4,999 for failing to complete inventories of American Indian remains and artifacts in its possession.

The U.S. Department of the Interior notified Marshall University President Jerome Gilbert of the fine in a letter this week.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, which said Marshall officials knew about the requirements of a 1990 federal law but failed to complete the inventories until long after a deadline.
Marshall has 45 days to pay or appeal.

University spokeswoman Ginny Painter said the university would pay the fine.

“The university is actively continuing the process of completing all necessary NAGPRA requirements and looks forward to a successful conclusion to this matter,” Painter said in a statement.

The fine is one of the largest assessed for violations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Known as NAGPRA, the law is administered by the National Park Service. It requires museums and universities to disclose to the federal government the Native American items in their possessions, complete item-by-item inventories, and notify and transfer those items to affiliated tribes or descendants.

When the law was passed, Marshall’s inventory was supposed to be completed by late 1995. The government notified the university of the violation in 2015 after a retired employee filed a complaint. Marshall completed the inventory in December 2015.

Since the law was enacted 28 years ago, the federal government has collected a total of just $29,179 in civil fines assessed in eight cases involving NAGPRA violations, including $9,820 from the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and $5,000 from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. In addition, the Bishop Museum in Hawaii paid $13,500 under a settlement agreement.

“The purpose of NAGPRA civil penalties is to ensure that museums comply with the law,” David Tarler, NAGPRA’s chief of training, civil enforcement and regulations, said Thursday. “And this has been an important tool for ensuring that there is compliance with the NAGPRA process. The bottom line: The process is working.”

David Cremeans said that after he started working at Marshall in 1989, he witnessed American Indian remains and artifacts in bags, on shelves — even on the floor. The remains came from donated archaeology collections and university-sponsored excavations.

Cremeans later learned about the federal law and waited for the university to document its inventory. But by the time Cremeans retired in 2005, he said Marshall had done nothing.

Cremeans, a Cherokee descendant, later became president of the Native American Indian Federation, which was planning a museum and cultural center. Cremeans said he contacted Marshall about its remains and artifacts, whether the university had complied with the law, and offered his help.

Frustrated by what he said was Marshall’s reluctant, bitter treatment of him, Cremeans filed the complaint.

“It’s just the whole way I was treated in general,” Cremeans said in a telephone interview. “They don’t want to devote the time it takes to do the job right. If you got federal laws, you’ve got to comply with the law. If you don’t have the funding, then don’t get into the program. If you don’t want to comply with NAGPRA, don’t keep a museum.”

The letter said within three months after being notified by the government of the violation, Marshall completed an item-by-item list, initiated consultation with required parties and provided the NAGPRA administrator with the inventory.

But Cremeans said more work needs to be done, including transferring the inventory to affiliated tribes or descendants.

“It’s not over until those remains go back into the ground,” Cremeans said. “I don’t want to see them on a shelf anymore.”

Marshall is consulting with tribes to determine the inventory’s cultural affiliations, Tarler said, adding that it’s up to universities and museums to do that, not the federal government.

He said the Park Service does not determine how many of the nearly 750 museums and universities with these items are following the law — unless a formal accusation is lodged.

Obama Sets Rule to Protect Streams Near Coal Mines

The Obama administration on Monday set final rules designed to reduce the environmental impact of coal mining on the nation’s streams, a long-anticipated move that met quick resistance from Republicans who vowed to overturn it under President-elect Donald Trump.

The Interior Department said the new rule will protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests, preventing debris from coal mining from being dumped into nearby waters. The rule would maintain a buffer zone that blocks coal mining within 100 feet of streams, but would impose stricter guidelines for exceptions to the 100-foot rule.

Interior officials said the rule would cause only modest job losses in coal country, but Republicans denounced it as a job-killer being imposed during President Barack Obama’s final days in office.

Coal already is struggling under steep competition from cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas, as well as regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas pollution that contributes to climate change.

U.S. coal production has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 30 years, and several coal companies have filed for bankruptcy protection in recent months, including three of the country’s biggest coal producers, Alpha Natural Resources, Arch Coal and Peabody Energy.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, called the new rule a final, futile attempt by Obama to kill coal jobs and continue what he called Obama’s “war” on coal.

Bishop said he looks forward to working with Trump’s team “to overturn this unparalleled executive overreach and implement policies that protect communities forsaken by this administration,” House Speaker Paul Ryan vowed that “our unified Republican government will act to provide coal country with relief.”

Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association, a lobbying group that represents coal producers, called the rule a “post-election midnight regulation” that is “a win for bureaucracy and extreme environmental groups and a loss for everyday Americans.”

Quinn and other opponents said the rule appears to support the environmental movement’s “keep it in the ground” efforts to reduce extraction and use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil that contribute to global warming. He argued that locking away coal reserves will put tens of thousands of Americans out of work and raise energy costs for millions of Americans.

The Sierra Club, not surprisingly, disagreed, calling the rule “a long overdue step toward guaranteeing every community in America is protected from the toxic water pollution caused by surface coal mining.” The organization said the mining dumps dangerous heavy metals such as mercury, selenium and arsenic into local waterways and “puts the health of families living near coalfields at risk.”

An Interior official projected that fewer than 300 jobs would be lost after the regulation takes effect next month.

The rule would require companies to restore streams and return mined areas to conditions similar to those before mining took place. Companies also would have to replant native trees and vegetation.

The administration said the rule updates requirements in place since 1983. The biggest impact will be felt in states such as West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Marshall's Handling of American Indian Remains Investigated

Marshall University’s handling of American Indian remains is under investigation by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the agency is investigating whether Marshall is in compliance with the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA.

David Tarler is in charge of training, civil enforcement and regulations for the National NAGPRA Project. He says federal officials want to determine whether Marshall officials have properly inventoried remains and artifacts collected over the years.

Archaeologist and Marshall professor Nicholas Freidin says the university wants to comply with the national regulations.

Freidin says it’s difficult to identify the tribes with which the remains are associated and to find the descendants.

He says one group of remains is thought to be about 800 years old.