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West Virginia's federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement is getting nearly $50 million to clean up abandoned coal mines in West Virginia.
The clean-up affects hundreds of sites abandoned by coal operators before 1977.
The federal government has been allocating money for years to
to fill mine shafts, treat polluted water and fix other environmental problems from abandoned mines.
Hundreds of strip mines were also abandoned by operators. | 
