This week ConservAmerica hosted a lunch forum for congressional staff on ways to incentivize the voluntary clean-up of orphaned hard rock mines. The briefing featured presentations by key stakeholders, including Tawny Bridgeford, with the National Mining Association; Chris Wood, with Trout Unlimited; Jonathan Wood, with the Property and Environment Research Center; and Steven Cook of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
At issue is the environmental clean-up and restoration of the roughly 500,000 abandoned (non-coal) mines scattered across the United States. Taxpayers pay for remediating the most toxic sites through the Superfund program, but limited federal funding makes the clean-up up of these sites a daunting task.
Many third parties have the resources and technical know-how to clean up watersheds and acid-mine drainage from these legacy mines. Yet, concerns about legal liabilities create a chilling effect that stops these environmentally friendly projects in their tracks. These third parties, commonly referred to as “Good Samaritans,” are not responsible for the original mining activity or environmental damage.
However, the broad reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) makes them potentially responsible for pollution outside the scope of what they volunteered to clean-up.
The briefing focused on the status of Good Samaritan efforts across the country and the need for federal legislation to remove barriers for the clean-up of legacy mines. Senators Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet continue to forge a bipartisan effort to remove the barriers and encourage more Good Samaritan clean-ups.