HR4705-119

What This Bill Does

The ACHE Act responds to health concerns in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia communities near mountaintop-removal coal mining. Congress finds that peer-reviewed research links these projects with elevated risks of birth defects, chronic pulmonary disorders, hypertension, mortality, lung cancer, and chronic heart, lung, and kidney disease. The Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, consulting with EPA and other federal agencies, must conduct or support a comprehensive study of health impacts on people living near mountaintop-removal projects, publish the report, and trigger an HHS public determination on whether the mining practice presents health risks. Until HHS publishes a no-health-risk determination, the Army Corps, EPA, Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and state permitting partners may not issue or renew federal authorizations for new or expanded mountaintop-removal projects. Existing project operators must continuously monitor water, air, and noise pollution, consistently monitor soil pollution, identify resulting pollution and exposure pathways, submit monthly results to HHS, and have those results posted in a searchable public database within seven days. Operators that do not monitor or report lose eligibility for federal authorization renewals or expansions. Interior, through OSMRE, must collect a one-time fee from companies currently conducting or previously completing mountaintop-removal projects to recover federal costs for the study and monitoring program.

Who Benefits and How

Residents near mountaintop-removal mines benefit from a federal health study focused on disease risks in nearby Appalachian communities. Appalachian public health researchers benefit from NIEHS, EPA, and HHS evidence collection on water, air, soil, and noise exposure pathways. Environmental justice organizations benefit from a federal authorization moratorium until HHS determines the practice does not present health risks. State and local health departments benefit from monthly pollution data posted in a searchable HHS database.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Mountaintop-removal coal operators must monitor pollution, submit monthly results, identify exposure pathways, and pay a one-time federal cost-recovery fee. Army Corps permit offices, EPA water-permit offices, and OSMRE regulators must withhold authorizations while the health-risk moratorium applies. HHS Secretary and NIEHS Director must manage the study, public report, health-risk determination, and public pollution database. Coal mining companies seeking new or expanded mountaintop-removal projects face delayed or blocked permits until the health finding clears.

Key Provisions

• Requires NIEHS, in consultation with EPA, to study health impacts of mountaintop-removal coal mining near affected communities.
• Blocks federal authorizations for new or expanded mountaintop-removal projects until HHS publishes a no-health-risk determination.
• Requires existing operators to monitor water, air, noise, and soil pollution and report results monthly.
• Requires HHS to publish monitoring results in a searchable database within seven days of receipt.
• Authorizes OSMRE to collect a one-time fee from mountaintop-removal operators to recover federal implementation costs.