State awards $8.85M to redevelop SWVA abandoned mine sites

The Virginia Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization program intends to award funds to eight economic development projects across Southwest Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, announced Friday.

The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, which will be renamed the Virginia Department of Energy on Oct. 1, administers the program. The U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement will review the projects and must approve them before the funds are officially awarded.

The following funding awards have been recommended:

• Norton will receive $2.5 million for Project Intersection Phase IV, an industrial site development aiming to attract new manufacturing businesses.
• Buchanan County will receive $2 million for Buchanan County Solar, a commercial solar development on a reclaimed surface coal mine.
• For the Elam Farm Property Infrastructure Development, an industrial site for light manufacturing facilities, Wise County will receive almost $1.71 million.
• The Southwest Virginia Energy Research and Development Authority is set to get $975,000 for Project Innovation, a regional project to create an “energy lab” for researchers in the energy industry.
• Lee County was granted $500,000 for the Lee County Indoor Farm-Greenhouse project to create a pad for an indoor grow farm.
• Lonesome Pine Regional Industrial Facilities Authority will receive $500,000 for Project Thoroughbred Phase II, a grain processing, storage and distribution terminal.
• Wise County is receiving $371,000 to make improvements and upgrade the existing baseball and softball facility at Veldon Dotson Recreation Park into a travel ball field for tournaments.
• Dickenson County will get $300,000 to add a swimming pool and update restrooms at the Breaks Interstate Park’s waterpark.

The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy has received $10 million in federal funding each year to develop abandoned mine land sites in the region since 2017.