(The Center Square) – Public input is being sought in Virginia on how to spend $79.5 million in grant funding to capture methane leaking from coal mines and turn it into usable energy.
The goal is to reduce harmful emissions and bring jobs back to southwest Virginia, where many communities were built around coal.
The Virginia Department of Energy and Department of Environmental Quality are using federal money from the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant to launch the program.
They are gathering ideas through a Request for Information, or RFI, which is open through July 16. Officials say the money will go to competitive grants for projects that detect, capture or reuse methane gas, especially through ventilation systems and cracks underground.
Left unchecked, it can continue leaking for decades from abandoned mine sites.
This is not about starting new coal mining. Rather, the funding is meant to clean up legacy emissions and support new opportunities in areas hit hard by coal’s decline.
Southwest Virginia is a key focus, but the program is open to input from mine operators, landowners, energy developers and technology providers across the commonwealth.
Ideas can include new technology, locations for pilot projects, permitting or land access concerns, and ways to partner with other industries.
The commonwealth is also looking for suggestions on workforce development and long-term use of captured methane, such as converting it into fuel or electricity.
The program aims to reduce methane emissions from the old coal mines and create new energy opportunities in areas affected by past mining.
Coal has deep roots in the commonwealth’s economy, with the first recorded production dating back to 1748 in the Richmond Coalfield. At its peak in 1990, Virginia produced more than 47 million tons of coal.
Today, nearly all of the state’s coal comes from seven counties, including Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise, which still account for more than 80% of production.
While production has declined since the 1990s, coal remains an economic and environmental consideration because of ongoing cleanup and land restoration needs.
The planning phase will also give the commonwealth a better picture of which former mine sites are still emitting methane and where energy recovery efforts could have the biggest impact.
That information will help shape the final grant competition expected later this summer.
