Home to one-third of the nation’s abandoned mines, Pennsylvania is getting nearly $245 million in federal money to launch a remediation effort.

The estimated 5,000 abandoned mines in the state, including nearly 300 in Butler County, pose health and safety hazards, state and federal officials said.

The state is getting $244.9 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 that President Joe Biden signed into law to clean up abandoned mine lands.

Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., announced the funding Monday. Casey said the state will be eligible to receive more than $3 billion over the next 15 years to clean up abandoned mine land through the infrastructure act.

The nearly 300 inventoried problem area mine sites in the county contain about 1,550 individual known problems such as highwalls, shafts, mine openings and mine discharges, said Thomas Decker, state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman.

A portion of this story is shared with you as a digital media exclusive. To read the full story and support our local, independent newsroom, please subscribe at butlereagle.com.