(INDIANAPOLIS) – Officials say Indiana is getting about $8.1 million in federal funding to help clean up and repurpose abandoned coal mines.
The funding from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement was announced this month by Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
The grants are funded in part by a fee based on coal produced in the United States. They aim to help to eliminate dangerous conditions and pollution caused by past coal mining.
More than $291 million is being distributed to states and Native American tribes.
Past projects have closed dangerous mine shafts, reclaimed unstable slopes, treated acid mine drainage and restored water supplies damaged by mining.