Abandoned mines have plagued watersheds throughout America for decades if not centuries. At the same time, scientists and clean water stakeholders have known the harmful impacts of these forgotten mines on streams, waterways, and ecosystems; they’ve also worked to remediate the pollution and reclaim these abandoned mine sites as best that they could. The government and organizations like Trout Unlimited have spent billions of dollars towards these efforts and shutting off the stream of heavy metals and toxic pollution leaching from the hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines littering the American landscape. Yesterday’s action from the US Congress will fundamentally increase the capacity to clean up our waterways and ecosystems.
One of the primary roadblocks to large scale abandoned mine cleanup activities throughout the country was the exposure of legal liability associated with assuming ownership of and engaging in restoration activities for abandoned mines. This is not a new issue–in fact, Trout Unlimited has encouraged Congress to legislate a solution for decades. However, the legislative remedy to open the door to large scale restoration work never reached the President’s desk. That is not until Tuesday, December 10th.
Senator’s Martin Heinrich (New Mexico) and Jim Risch (Idaho) successfully shepherded the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act, which passed the senate back in July. Today the House of Representatives passed the same legislation, championed by Representatives Celeste Maloy (Utah), Mary Peltola (Alaska), and Susie Lee (Nevada). This critical legislation, which has an immediate scaling impact toward cleaning up rivers, streams, groundwater, and ecosystems, is now heading to the White House for President Biden’s signature.
“For more than 25 years, Good Samaritans have tried to clean up abandoned mines but have faced significant hurdles and liability rules that hold them responsible for all the pre-existing pollution from a mine — despite having no involvement with the mines before their cleanup efforts,” said Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. “With today’s passage, we’ve now cleared one of the final hurdles preventing these groups from helping to protect the land, water, fish, and wildlife our communities rely on. This victory belongs to every single person who rolled up their sleeves to fix this longstanding injustice, and I’d like to thank those who have carried the baton to get us to this point. I am grateful for President Biden’s support of the bill, and his signature will allow Good Samaritans to get to work.”
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“Clean water and healthy fish and wildlife habitat are values that unite us,” said Corey Fisher, Public Policy Director at Trout Unlimited. “For too long, toxic hardrock mine waste has polluted rivers, causing downstream impacts to communities and wildlife. This common-sense law will give us a critical tool to turn the tide, restoring clean water to watersheds across the West and beyond.”
This achievement was drawn out and had its share of “ups n downs,” but now the US government has unshackled the countless organizations like TU and facilitates an incredible potential to recover thousands of abandoned mines and continue restoring thousands of waterways. This is a historic day for clean water and healthy ecosystems in this country and was made possible by the bipartisan leadership from many in Congress , a sorely needed reminder of what can be accomplished across party lines, and the persevering work of Trout Unlimited.
Cover picture courtesy of Josh Duplechian, Trout Unlimited
Trout Unlimited Applauds US Senate’s Passage of Bipartisan Abandoned Mine Cleanup Legislation
Good Samaritan Legislation for Abandoned Mine Reclamation Introduced in the U.S. Senate
