FRANKFORT, Ky. - Old surface mine sites in Appalachia could translate to new jobs for Kentuckians who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Nathan Hall, reforestation coordinator for Green Forests Work, says his group has been working on a shovel-ready project to use veterans to help reforest areas of former mine operations.

"We could be putting a lot of people back to work, not only restoring the environment of the area where they're from, but also helping to create sort of a base for future economic development."

Hall says that when surface mining is completed in an area, the ground is bulldozed, compacted and then planted with seed and fertilizer. Grass can grow there, but trees can't.

"Nor can they outcompete the vegetation that's there, and your native hardwood trees, your oaks, your hickories, black cherry, things like that, they really just can't even get a foothold to survive in those kind of conditions."

Hall adds that, not unlike the new trees they're planting on some of these lands, the jobs for vets concept is still taking root.

"We're just now starting, as an organization, to figure out how do we actually turn this from just a good idea for the environment into a really viable option for the economic future of the region."

A bipartisan bill working its way through Congress may help it all happen. It would provide a billion dollars to help put many of the nation's 720,000 unemployed veterans to work.

The coal industry itself has been helping to develop large-scale projects where native trees are grown in areas largely stripped down to bedrock by surface mining.



get more stories like this via email

ALBANY, N.Y. - A ballot measure could give New York residents the constitutional right to a healthy environment, and on Tuesday a group of state environmental advocates and lawmakers kicked off a campaign for its passage this November.

Some 80% of New Yorkers support adding the "green amendment" to the state Constitution, according to a Siena College poll.

Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of the group Environmental Advocates NY, said the measure would change Article 1 of the state Constitution by giving each resident the right to clean air and water.

"We will argue that decisions now will have to be screened, of whether it violates a constitutional right to clean air and clean water," he said, "and we think it's going to lead towards more thorough and better front-end decision making that will reject a lot of the proposals that are out there now."

He pointed to the proposed Danskammer fracked-gas power plant and the longtime water crisis in Hoosick Falls as environmental-justice issues for Hudson Valley communities that need further attention. If approved by voters, the change to the state's "bill of rights" would take effect in January.

Jennifer Wilson, deputy director of the League of Women Voters of New York State, said the move would ensure that environmental health is at the forefront in writing legislative policies and plans for economic development.

"New Yorkers who can't afford to move away from these areas, they're suffering," she said. "These residents are hurting right now, and that's only going to continue to grow if we do not guarantee businesses and elected officials have a mandate to protect the well-being of all New Yorkers."

The "green amendment" also would prevent people from creating loopholes in existing laws. Eddie Bautista, executive director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, said he thinks it's time to make clean air and water a constitutional right.

"We should have a right to clean air and clean water - except we don't," he said. "Even when we are strategic, sophisticated and politically powerful enough to get laws passed, they're only as good as their enforcement or even the legislative body in question's commitment to it."

The initial effort for a "green" constitutional amendment in New York began in 2016.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A bill to tackle contamination from so-called "forever chemicals" known as Perfluorinated and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) is moving through Congress.

PFAS is used in a range of consumer products and linked to a variety of health problems.

The chemical essentially does not degrade, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most Americans have PFAS in their blood.

Sonya Lunder, senior toxics policy advisor for the Sierra Club, explained PFAS contamination has been on the radar of environmental advocates for decades, but federal regulators didn't start paying attention until the turn of the century, when evolving research uncovered the prevalence of chemicals.

"It's been maddening for environmental advocates, because PFAS chemicals are used so widely in things like microwave popcorn bags, or to make fabrics or rugs stain resistant," Lunder stressed. "However, the chemicals in the environment build up in our food. They're in the water we drink. They linger in our body for years."

A recent study detected PFAS at nearly 70 sites in Ohio. The bill would accelerate the response to PFAS contamination and direct the EPA to establish federal regulations.

Water system sampling conducted under Ohio's PFAS Action Plan in 2020 found PFAS levels above the state's action level in just two public water systems.

However, Lunder pointed out Ohio's threshold is much more lax than other states, and at least 31 systems exceed the most protective drinking-water standard. She added some states are going beyond testing and taking steps to prevent PFAS contamination.

"There are so many things that need to be done, and it is very cumbersome in these state-by-state approaches," Lunder contended. "They're paving the way, they're showing us what is possible, but what we really need to level the playing field to protect everybody and to do this more quickly is federal action."

Moving forward, Lunder emphasized more needs to be done to prevent the need for regulators to continuously play catch-up. She argued for too long, chemicals have been created and marketed without enough research on the long-term impacts.

"Until we have a much better integrated system using better judgments and a more precautionary view, we're going to continue to find that these pollutants are widespread in the environment, impacting everyone in costing us an incredible amount of money," Lunder remarked.

The PFAS Action Act of 2021 passed the House with bipartisan support. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, was the only Ohio Republican to vote in favor.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A petition signed by 19 mayors from across Pennsylvania urges the state's congressional delegation to pass the Parks, Jobs, and Equity Act.

The bill would provide $500 million in public park investment nationwide and, its backers said, would also help address racial and class inequity in terms of access to public space. The legislation reserves half the funding for low-income populations that historically have not had easy access to neighborhood parks.

Owen Franklin, Pennsylvania director of The Trust for Public Land, the group that organized the petition, said the funding is needed in Pennsylvania, with so many more people spending time outdoors since the pandemic.

"It's a very intuitive argument to make," Franklin contended. "To say to leaders of our cities and towns across the Commonwealth that investments in parks and open space are needed from Congress, in order to ensure that the benefits that we've all prioritized over the past year and a half more than ever before can endure, and provide for generations."

Nine in 10 Pennsylvanians said they participated in outdoor activities during the pandemic, according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

In Duquesne, in Allegheny County, there are 900 abandoned properties and vacant lots in the city's 2.5 square miles. It's considered a financially distressed community under Pennsylvania's Act 47.

Nickole Nesby, mayor of Duquesne, said investing in parks could benefit the city.

"We are hoping that once this legislation is actually funded, that monies could be used to improve the quality of life," Nesby explained. "For not only our children, our next generation, but also for our seniors."

Nesby added the city needs funds to improve playgrounds and for a community space for older residents.

Investing in outdoor space could have important psychological impacts, too.

Steve Stroman, public policy advocate for the Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society, believes COVID-19 proved parks are essential for public health.

"If you live in a city, and you're on the 14th floor of an apartment building, you're home with your kids, those urban parks have been tremendous places, for both your kids and for parents as well," Stroman asserted.

The Parks, Jobs, and Equity Act was introduced in the U.S. House in March, and the Senate in June.