WASHINGTON On the ripped ground of an abandoned surface mine in Hernshaw, West Virginia, former coal miners attempt to grow a field of sweet-smelling lavender.
Oil from the lavender plants is used in soaps, perfumes and cosmetics and the effort to turn the torn-up terrain into a flowering business is an economic initiative funded by the government to create jobs in distressed coal country.
But the effort received an unexpected setback Tuesday when President Donald Trumps federal budget proposed cutbacks in grants to the lavender project and others like it aimed at creating new-era jobs for out-of-work coal miners. The proposed budget wipes out the Appalachian Regional Commission, which appropriates $120 million annually to fund job-creating business ventures and retrain unemployed coal miners to acquire new skills.
It also recommends Congress eliminate the $90 million-a-year fund, championed by Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky, to clean up abandoned coal mines so the land can be used for other, money-making purposes.
The proposed cuts are not mere shavings, said Rogers, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. They are rather deep and harmful to his struggling Appalachian district.
Political leaders from coal states joined the critical chorus.
Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania in a statement called the Trump budget a slap in the face of the residents of these rural communities whom he (Trump) claims to support.
Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia had serious concerns about how the budget cuts would impact people in her state.
Her Democratic colleague, Sen. Joe Manchin, said the reduced spending comes at the cost of not helping our most vulnerable Americans and many West Virginians.
The White House budget office said Trumps plan is based on strengthening the nations military and national security to make Americans safer. To accomplish that goal, the office said, the nation needs to steadily reduce spending on domestic programs in order to achieve the presidents vision of a balanced federal budget over the next decade.
But states depressed by the decline of the coal industry contend they need federal economic development funds to help turn their economies around, creating 21st century jobs and business opportunities.
The Appalachian Commission, which Wolf co-chairs, supplies the funds for the lavender project and other programs, including retraining miners in Pennsylvania and West Virginia for placement in information technology and health care jobs. A project in David, West Virginia, instructs miners on bee harvesting as a business.
Trumps budget narrative said in eliminating the commission the administrations aim is to reduce unnecessary federal spending and streamline the federal governments role by encouraging state and local governments to work with the private sector on their economic issues.
It cited as needless spending the mine reclamation fund run by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, saying the agency lacks expertise in economic development and its federal grants are not central to its mission.
The budget office didnt return an email asking about funds in the presidents budget that would help create new jobs in Appalachia and other rural areas of the country.
According to budget documents, Trump proposes setting aside $80 million of $162 million in new funding for rural infrastructure improvements in Appalachia. The grants would fund housing repairs for very low-income people, telemedicine and distance learning programs, and increased broadband internet service. Trump would also increase by $66 million job training for displaced workers.
Trumps budget document said the president will assist the coal industry by getting rid of unnecessary regulations like the Clean Power Plan measure that imposed strict carbon emission standards on mining companies.
