Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva is asking the U.S. Interior Department to explain what happened to funds that officials say were withheld from a study on the impacts on health from coal mining in a letter released Tuesday.
Grijalva's letter says time has already run out for the department to spend the $400,000 allocated, part of a 2016 grant from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
The congressman says the Interior Department is obligated to spend the money within two years and it appears to have not been used on the coal mining study.
Grijalva believes the money was reallocated to avoid showing that mountaintop removal coal mining is a serious health threat.
Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift says the agency reviewed all grants and partnerships worth more than $100,000 and that this grant for the study was put on hold as part of the review.
