Kentucky Congressman Hal Rogers is sponsoring a bill that could send a billion dollars back to coal-producing states to help with economic development.
The RECLAIM Act would accelerate the distribution of money from the federal Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund. The money would go to environmental remediation of former mine sites and be used to create new economic development projects on the sites.
The bill has support from a bipartisan coalition of congressmen from coal-producing states.