West Virginia Lawmakers Increase Reclamation Tax

Suggested by West Virginia's Department of Environmental Protection, the measure increases the special reclamation tax rate per ton of clean coal mined from 14.4 cents to 27.9 cents, effective July 1, 2012.  The increase should boost annual revenue from the special reclamation tax from about $19 million to roughly $36 million, according to the state tax department.  Of that amount, the state's water reclamation trust fund will receive $20 million a year; the bill stipulates that 15 cents of the total reclamation tax collected must be directed to recovery efforts for water contaminated by runoff from abandoned mines.