Applications Now Being Accepted for Funding for Economic Development of Abandoned Mine Lands

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 MONTGOMERY– Secretary of Labor Fitzgerald Washington announced On Monday, October 1 that The Alabama Department of Labor’s Abandoned Mine Land Program (ADOL AML) will take applications for a second round of $10 million in grant funding available for AML related economic development projects. Applications will be accepted from October 1, 2018 through January 11, 2019. Applications received after Close of Business (4:00 PM CST) January 11, 2019 will not be considered.

The economic development projects must be located on or adjacent to coal mine sites that ceased operations prior to the signing of the Surface Mine Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) on August 3, 1977.  Counties eligible for projects include Bibb, Blount, Cherokee, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Fayette, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Shelby, St. Clair, Tuscaloosa, Walker, and Winston.

Pilot Program Guidance/Requirements from the US Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement (OSMRE), and Grant Applications from ADOL AML, which contain additional information on the grant funding, can be found on the ADOL AML website: (https://www.labor.alabama.gov/Inspections/Mining/reclamation.aspx) located beneath the AMLPILOT banner, or by calling or emailing Chuck Williams, State Mine Land Reclamation Supervisor, 4351 Crescent Road Irondale, AL   35210.  Phone: 205-945-8671 FAX: 205-945-8685 Email:Chuck.Williams@labor.alabama.gov.

Since 2017, three projects have received a total of $10 million dollars in grant funding through this program. Those projects are in Jefferson and Shelby counties and include the Southern Museum of Flight’s relocation to the Grand River Technology Park situated near Barber Motorsports and The Bass Pro Shop near Leeds, Alabama, a commercial and residential development in Helena, Alabama and the expansion of the City of Vestavia Hills, Alabama’s Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex. These three projects are expected to provide approximately 1,695 new jobs and generate and economic impact of $152.1 million dollars.

Fitzgerald Washington

“The ADOL AML Reclamation Program has long made a significant impact on protecting the safety of the citizens of Alabama, and now with these new Pilot Program Funds is providing opportunities to transform abandoned mine lands into doorways of economic opportunity for the future. It is rewarding to see so many worthy projects get funding so that they can be an important lasting part of the economic rebuilding of the Coal Region of Alabama,” said ADOL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington. “I again encourage any group who has a plan to develop an abandoned mine land site to apply for this grant funding. Whether the project is big or small, they’re all important.”

The grant funding, provided by the federal government, is being administered by ADOL AML and all funding must be approved by the OSMRE.

Media Release/Tara Hutchison/Alabama Department of Labor

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