The undersigned individuals request that $5 million in funding be appropriated to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to support the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI).

Our communities are grateful for the recent influx of funding for the cleanup of hazardous abandoned mine lands (AML). However, this funding rarely includes full reforestation of mine sites and does not apply to coal mines permitted after 1977.

We support ARRI for the many environmental and economic benefits that reforestation of mined sites provides. It creates jobs and increases land value through planting high-value, native trees. These trees also enhance ecosystem services and mitigate water runoff from these sites. Over the last decade (2013 - 2023), there have been nearly twenty federally declared flooding disasters across Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Ohio. The majority have occurred in Kentucky and West Virginia, often also affecting parts of Virginia. Total FEMA spending on these events totals nearly $1 billion. Given the scale and scope of recent floods and federal responsibilities and priorities to respond to climate-related disasters, it is critical to invest in programs like ARRI that can help mitigate the impacts of climate change in the region. In addition to flood mitigation, reforestation also helps capture carbon, thus contributing to our nation's efforts to mitigate climate change and the severe precipitation events that cause flash flooding.

ARRI’s successful reforestation has been proven over nearly two decades. In a 2009 and 2020 study of ARRI sites, foresters found that there was an 83% survival rate for first-year trees. Yet, there are still roughly one million acres of non-forested, previously-mined lands that could be reforested in the eastern United States alone. Methodologies promoted by ARRI are transferable to other coal mining regions as well. Additional funding could help expand the program outside of Appalachia. Even more restoration of native ecosystems would be possible if this program was to be expanded nationwide to include the mid-continent and western regions.

With President Biden’s recently-announced American Climate Corps initiative, which will train twenty thousand young Americans in high-demand careers in climate and clean energy, ARRI reforestation programs are critical for connecting these soon-to-be skilled Americans with the clean energy economy. These federal initiatives are more impactful when they include consideration of the workforce as a key stakeholder and prioritize job quality and other workforce components as core to its program. We recommend that all workers employed in ARRI projects, similar to the American Climate Corps, be paid wages at rates not less than those prevailing on similar projects in the locality, as determined in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, with a $15/ hour minimum wage as a baseline wage requirement.

Dedicated funding for this well-established program is needed for this region. Given the vast acreage of mined lands with reforestation potential, we urge Congress to include $5 million in funds for the ARRI program in the FY25 Budget.