The Bureau of Land Management estimates that there are between 8,000 and 11,000 abandoned mines on Utah’s public lands, though other estimates put that number closer to 17,000. There is no complete inventory, according to the Utah BLM Office.
“Good Samaritans” hope to make a dent, however, small, in those numbers.
Sen. Mitt Romney recently co-sponsored the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act. There are 26 total co-sponsors, 13 Republicans and 13 Democrats, from across the country.
The legislation would create a pilot program where “Good Samaritans” — like state agencies, local governments and nonprofit organizations — could apply for a permit to clean up abandoned hardrock mines.
Abandoned mines pose a threat to soil and water quality. Rivers and streams can carry toxic metals far from the mine site, polluting groundwater and wildlife habitats. In 2020, the Government Accountability Office estimated that there could be over 390,000 abandoned hardrock mines on federally-owned land.
“Leaving these abandoned mines open could present a threat to drinking water and recreational safety, but federal regulations make it burdensome for the state and private sector to properly clean and seal them,” Romney said in a statement. “This legislation would allow well-meaning organizations to care for these abandoned mines, without being subject to stringent federal regulations.”
Right now, well-meaning organizations and agencies are not able to conduct remediation projects without being made responsible for pre-existing pollution due to liability rules under the Clean Water Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
Good Samaritan permits would be issued for lower-risk remediation projects focused on cleaning up historic mine residue — like previously mined materials, abandoned equipment and tailings. Under this legislation, Good Samaritans would receive limited liability waivers for the duration of their permit so that they don’t have to take on full liability for the abandoned mine.
These lower-risk remediation projects might include engineered wetlands, which reduce heavy metal content in order to improve water quality.
In 2006, nonprofit Trout Unlimited collaborated with Snowbird Ski Resort and the U.S. Forest Service to remove historic tailings polluting the American Fork watershed, the first “Good Samaritan” volunteer clean-up in Utah. Trout Unlimited ran into liability hurdles with the Environmental Protection Agency during that project
“Seeing how big of a hurdle it was for just that one relatively minor project was when we really came on board with this legislation and started leading the charge so that we can take that narrow scope of work and really expand it to address a larger scope of mines that are out there polluting watersheds,” Corey Fisher, Public Land Policy Director for Trout Unlimited, told The Tribune.
Good Samaritan mine remediation legislation has been introduced in Congress consistently since 1999. Fisher says that this version is the best yet.
“The general concern throughout the years is that some bad actors might be able to take advantage of this program,” Fisher said. “That’s what this version of the legislation really gets at: closing any of those potential loopholes.”
But some say that the guardrails in this bill still are not enough.
The bill creates a liability waiver from section 404 of the Clean Water Act. “That means dredge and fill activities, which is what mining is,” Aaron Mintzes, senior policy counsel for the nonprofit Earthworks, told The Tribune. “We would oppose that liability waiver for Good Samaritan remining projects because mining and re-mining are synonymous.”
Mintzes said that a liability waiver from section 402 of the Clean Water Act, which covers water pollution, would be a better alternative.
Exploration, mining and prospecting are not covered under the liability protection. Only remediation activities enjoy limited liability waivers. If Good Samaritans worsen water quality under their permit, their conditional liability is void.
“We look forward to continuing collaborative work with [the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining] and the legislators to identify ways to reclaim abandoned mines,” a BLM spokesperson wrote in email correspondence with The Tribune. “Obviously, our #1 priority is the safety of the experts who do that much-needed work, which requires highly technical training and specific protocols.”
Good Samaritan permits would only be awarded if the owner or operator responsible for the abandoned mine’s clean-up cannot be identified.
Each applicant must have the necessary financial resources, experience and capacity to complete the work that they propose.
“The goal is to make it easier for ‘Good Samaritans’ to clean up these sites, because quite frankly, there are so many, the burden is so high, and the federal government does not have the bandwidth and the resources necessary at the moment to be doing all that work,” Kaden McArthur, government relations coordinator with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, told The Tribune. “This is what we view as a really golden opportunity to make a difference.”
Both the National Mining Association and the Utah Mining Association have expressed their support for this legislation, along with 41 hunting, wildlife and conservation groups.
The pilot program would end seven years after the enactment of the act. The Environmental Protection Agency can issue up to 15 Good Samaritan permits during that time, the majority of which will likely be issued to state agencies.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in 2021, authorized funding for an Abandoned Hardrock Mine Reclamation program to inventory and reclaim abandoned mines on federal, state, tribal or private land. The Fiscal Year 2023 President’s Budget request included $85 million in funding.
“We really look at this as a catalyst to bring other constituency groups and members of Congress to see that this is a significant problem and Good Samaritans are part of the solution,” Fisher said, “but the full solution is much bigger than the projects that just we can do.”