SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Thousands of acres of abandoned mine lands and the streams they are polluting would get federal funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law enacted in November, Republican Rep. David B. McKinley told voters at a recent town hall-like meeting at Shepherd University.
“We have water wells that are being destroyed because it leaks into the system, it leaches into our water. It’s in our streams. It’s destroying it,” McKinley said of the acidic drainage from the deserted coal mines.
Over the next five years, McKinley said he expects the law to provide more than $700 million to the Mountain State to help reclaim abandoned mine lands, improve water quality and allow for economic development.
