More than $100 million is headed to West Virginia in an effort to help the Mountain State clean up abandoned mine lands, which will create jobs and opportunities for economic growth. 

The Department of Interior announced Monday that West Virginia was set to receive $140.75 million to reclaim the mine lands under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to a department news release.

"President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has given us a historic opportunity to address legacy pollution in West Virginia and across the country," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in the release. "The reclamation landscape of tomorrow presents endless opportunities for innovation, efficiency and partnership. 

"This is about creating vitally needed jobs in communities that have often been marginalized, both in the immediate short term and in the years to come as these projects become part of the foundation for new economic development," she added.

Under the law, $11.3 billion will be distributed for abandoned mine lands cleanup over 15 years. According to the release, $725 million has been made available to 22 states and the Navajo Nation during the 2022 fiscal year. According to the release, awards for Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia were announced earlier in October. 

The White House noted that cleaning up abandoned mines is in line with the President's Justice40 Initiative, which includes executive orders aimed at "aggressive action to tackle climate change and build on the executive actions that the president took on his first day in office."

Funding for mine cleanup under the infrastructure measure is in addition to traditional grant funding for abandoned mine lands. According to the release, those grants are funded by coal operators and, through language in the federal law, are guaranteed to be provided through 2034.