U.S. Mining: Abandoned Mines: AML Bills: S 2780

Drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Good Samaritan Clean Watershed Act, while seeking to address pollution from abandoned hardrock mines, comes up short on three main counts: 

1. The Administration proposal lacks any funding source. The greatest barrier to abandoned mine clean-up in the West is, unlike the coal industry, the hardrock mining industry pays no royalty or fee.  To fully clean up the half million abandoned mines in the West would cost $32 billion to $72 billion.
   
    
   
2.  It creates a Superfund liability waiver -- an idea that has never been a part of the decade-long stakeholder dialogue on this issue.  Such an exemption sets an unnecessary precedent and is not necessary for a Good Samaritan to act.
   
    
   
3. The proposal lacks of an objective standard to make sure that old mines are actually cleaned up. The Administration bill also does not require baseline water testing, leaving the public in the dark as to whether the polluted water from these mines is actually getting worse as a result of activities authorized by this legislation.

Representative Mark Udall's bills are a better choice for addressing the nation's abandoned mine cleanup problem

For More Information

• S. 2780-- the Good Samaritan Clean Watershed Act