This isn't a typical case of the money not being there. Rather, its a case of the government collecting the money for the express purpose of using it for mine closures, but not releasing all of the collected money so that it can be used. The rest, the government uses for non-related purposes. The collected taxes go into a special fund called the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund. And much of this specially allocated money is being used to balance the federal budget, rather than its intended use of closing old mines.
Mines represent environmental and public health hazards.
For example, on April 24 EPA announced that one mine, the Coalinga Mine in California, would be removed from the federal Superfund list. The mine was contaminated with metals and asbestos. The federal government has allocated some money. Utah, Indiana, Louisiana and the Navajo Indian Tribe also received funding. While many acknowlege that funding has been made available, they complain that the federal government is not disbursing even close to all of the money that it collects for mine closure projects.