-  Newsroom 

# President’s fiscal year 2023 budget includes significant investments in environmental protection and abandoned coal mine reclamation 

March 28, 2022

Date: Monday, March 28, 2022Contact: news@osmre.gov

 

**WASHINGTON**—****The Biden-Harris Administration today submitted to Congress the President’s Budget for fiscal year 2023. The President’s Budget details his vision to expand on the historic progress our country has made over the last year and deliver the agenda he laid out in his State of the Union address—to build a better America, reduce the deficit, reduce costs for families, and grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out.  

The President’s budget for fiscal year 2023 includes $271.2 million for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, which features $115 million to address coal mine reclamation and economic development efforts, complementing the historic investments being made by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Public Law 117-58). 

The Budget makes critical investments in the American people that will help lay a stronger foundation for shared growth and prosperity for generations to come. The President’s budget makes investments that will help to address the climate crisis while creating good-paying jobs with a free and fair chance to join a union, and investing in healthy lands, waters, and economies of energy communities across the country.

“President Biden has proposed an important blueprint for our country’s future that reflects the importance of science, equity and collaboration in carrying out Interior’s important missions,” said **Secretary Deb Haaland**. “These resources, coupled with the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help the Department make critical investments in climate resiliency while creating good-paying union jobs in the clean energy economy, ensuring Tribal communities have the resources and support they need, and conserving and protecting wildlife and their habitats for future generations. Together, we can ensure that every community has a stake in our efforts to build a better America.”

“OSMRE’s programs protect the public and the environment from hazards that were left by legacy coal mining and encourages the economic revitalization of communities,” said Laura Daniel-Davis, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. “The fiscal year 2023 budget will help communities who have lost coal mining jobs and are dealing with negative environmental and economic impacts to this day.”

At the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, the President’s budget would: 
                  - **Revitalize Coal Mine Communities.**The budget includes $115 million for the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) grants program, supporting abandoned coal mine reclamation projects that have a nexus to local economic development and to the creation of good-paying jobs. AMLER grants are distributed to six Appalachian states and three Tribes with the highest number of unfunded Priority 1 and Priority 2 abandoned mine land problems. 
                  - **Clean Streams.**The budget proposes roughly $2 million to work with not-for-profit organizations, especially small local watershed organizations, to undertake projects to clean streams affected by acid-mine drainage. These projects improve land and water resources, promoting healthy fish and wildlife habitat and recreational use. 
                  - **Combat the Climate Crisis.**The budget proposes $1.2 million in funding towards the transition to zero emission vehicles that will reduce transportation-related emissions and further combat the climate crisis.
                  - **Give Emergency Relief.**The budget includes $785,000 to address unforeseen federal emergency reclamation projects, providing immediate relief from emerging hazards in states and on Indian lands without an approved AML program.

The Budget makes these smart investments while also reducing deficits and improving our country’s long-term fiscal outlook. 

For more information on the President’s FY 2023 Budget, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/.

 **–**OSMRE **–**

###### *The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement carries out the requirements of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 in cooperation with States and Tribes. OSMRE’s objectives are to ensure that coal mining activities are conducted in a manner that protects citizens and the environment during mining, to ensure that the land is restored to beneficial use after mining, and to mitigate the effects of past mining by aggressively pursuing reclamation of abandoned coal mines.*