Budget cuts mean inadequate inspection of surface mines

Nearly 20% of the surface mines slated for inspection during 2008/2009 went unmonitored by the state, according to an article in today's Herald-Leader because of budget cuts to the state Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement.

The state also had to return $1 million to the federal government because it didn't match a federal grant for mine inspections.  It might have to return another $800,000 more.

This lost federal money certainly isn't the only cost of our chronic need for revenue reforms.  Tom Fitzgerald, of the Kentucky Resources Council, says that mines that contaminate our headwater streams contaminated them for longer because of missed inspections--another way that our outdated tax structure is costing us our water, health, and public safety.