Biden Signs Law to Clean Up Abandoned Mines Across Western U.S. • Idaho Capital Sun

A new federal law may accelerate local government, tribal and nonprofit efforts to clean up abandoned mining projects that threaten waters across the West.

the law He created a pilot program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to allow decontamination of 15 abandoned, low-risk mines built before 1980, and granted exemptions from federal laws that prevented cleanup operations.

It would also allow federal regulators to certify a nonprofit, state agency or tribal government to do this work. Under the law, these entities designated as “good Samaritans” would also not have to bear legal responsibility for this action.

Any company that owns the mine or has a hand in the pollution will be barred from qualifying, according to the new law.

“For more than 25 years, Good Samaritans have tried to clean up abandoned mines, but have faced significant obstacles and liability rules that hold them responsible for all pre-existing contamination generated by the mine — despite having no involvement in the mines prior to the cleanup efforts,” said U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich. Democrat from New Mexico, in a written statement.

Heinrich sponsored the bill — its full title is the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Remediation Act — with Sen. Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho. They had several bipartisan sponsors in the US House of Representatives and Senate. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Tuesday.

Hardrock mining refers to extracting minerals out of coal. Abandoned mines have left a legacy of contaminated spills and disasters that have cost taxpayers nearly $3 billion to clean up in the past decade — which is just a scratch of the estimated $50 billion cost of cleaning up all the pollution. Pool debris containing sludge and toxic waste such as heavy metals can leach into the soil and wash into nearby rivers and streams during floods or snowmelt.

A government oversight body determines the number of abandoned mines 390,000 On federal lands in 13 states in 2020.

The law aims to open up more mine cleaning projects that could not be done before

About 40% of the headwaters of western rivers and streams have been polluted after mining, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates, but liability laws would have required groups volunteering to do the cleanup to bear legal risks under federal laws for pollution they did not cause. .

Projects that would be excluded include heavily polluted mines where federal agencies oversee cleanup operations, or projects that require drilling.

The law opens up more mine cleanup projects that couldn’t be attempted before, said Jason Willis, an environmental engineer with Trout Unlimited who leads a mining pollution cleanup program across the West.

Local and tribal governments, states and nonprofits can already clean up certain types of pollution, such as runoff from mine waste piles or tailings piles, that would pollute streams during snowmelt or flooding.

But Willis said that addressing pollution coming from one place, such as pipes or outfalls, creates too many legal hurdles for third-party cleanup. Federal requirements aim to hold polluters accountable, and also apply to voluntary third parties trying to clean up. These requirements included assuming legal responsibility, continuing to track the water and potentially cleaning it for the foreseeable future.

The hope is that these pilot projects, which have received exemptions to federal polluter penalty laws, can demonstrate proof of concept for a future permanent program.

“Never let perfect be the enemy of good,” Willis said. “We could do a 70% improvement in water quality that would support aquatic life, rather than a 100% improvement in water quality which is not achievable either financially or in the long term.”

Finding suitable projects across the West will require careful consideration, but shrinking water resources due to climate change and development make the cleanup even more important, Willis said.

“I think these projects will be even more important in the future to ensure we have access to some of these available water resources,” he said.

Source New Mexico, Like the Idaho Capital Sun, it is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sean Griswold with questions: [email protected].