Gov. Andy Beshear and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers announced more than $22 million in federal grants Friday for communities in Eastern Kentucky.
Beshear and Rogers presented the grants to local officials at the Shaping Our Appalachian Region summit in Corbin.
The money comes from the federal Abandoned Mine Lands Economic Revitalization program, or AMLER. It’s been 10 years since Rogers, a veteran legislator, created the program.
“I launched that pilot program in 2016, when I was chairman of the full appropriations committee to find a way for our coal communities to repurpose former surface mine land to help boost our economy,” he said.
AMLER funds go to education, health care, infrastructure and workforce development projects throughout the region. They are targeted at communities that saw a sharp decline in coal jobs.
The six Appalachian states that can get AMLER funds are Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Alabama and Virginia.
“I've secured over $1 billion for that program over the last decade,” Rogers said, “with Kentucky receiving the largest share, totaling more than $280 million.”
SOAR was created by Rogers and Andy Beshear’s father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, at a time when Kentucky’s coal industry faced economic and regulatory pressures.
Recent data from the state Energy and Environment Cabinet show Kentucky had fewer than 3,400 coal mine jobs statewide as of June 30. The state lost 300 coal jobs in the first six months of the year, in part due to the bankruptcy of a Pike County coal operator.
The grants presented Friday included $4 million to the Leslie County Fiscal Court to install new gas lines to serve homes, businesses and schools.
The city of London Convention and Tourism Commission received $3.5 million toward the Wilderness Road Event Center.
Other awardees included Johnson County Schools, with nearly $3 million to expand its nursing and agricultural programs at the Johnson Central Career and Technical Center, and AdventHealth Manchester in Clay County getting $2.76 million to purchase a DaVinci surgical robot.
The Elliott County Fiscal Court received $2.5 million to replace its current EMS facility in Sandy Hook, and the city of Cumberland in Harlan County got $2.2 million to replace aging water distribution infrastructure.
