Weekly Column: Abandoned Mines Cleanup Law Will Help Preserve, Protect And Enhance Idaho's Natural Environment

The beauty of Idaho goes hand in hand with our abundant supply of natural resources.  Idaho’s vast natural and mineral resources provide high-paying, quality jobs and help foster a more secure supply chain as America strives for increased energy and technology independence. 

As I continue to work in Congress to assist domestic production in mineral-rich states like Idaho, removing bureaucratic red tape around the reclamation process helps preserve, protect and enhance our natural environment.  The recent enactment of the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act will help clean up and improve water quality in and around abandoned hardrock mines.

Fellow U.S. Senator for Idaho Jim Risch and I co-sponsored the bipartisan Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act.  President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law on December 17, 2024, following the U.S. Senate’s passage of the legislation in July, and the U.S. House of Representative’s passage in December.  

The U.S. has hundreds of thousands of abandoned hardrock mine features, of which at least 33,000 pose environmental hazards according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.  Organizations that have no legal or financial responsibility to an abandoned mine--true Good Samaritans--want to volunteer to remediate some of these sites.  Unfortunately, liability rules would leave these Good Samaritans legally responsible for all the pre-existing pollution from a mine, even though they were not involved with the mine prior to cleaning it up.

The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act will make it easier for “Good Samaritans” such as state agencies, local governments and nonprofits to clean up and improve water quality in and around abandoned hardrock mines.  The law creates a pilot permitting program to enable not-for-profit cleanup efforts to move forward, while ensuring Good Samaritans have the skills and resources to comply with federal oversight. 

This pilot program is designed for lower risk projects that will improve water and soil quality or otherwise protect human health.  The bill also outlines requirements for reviewing Good Samaritan permits under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

We have a responsibility to ourselves and future generations to preserve, protect and enhance our natural environment.  In an archived 2016 report, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service noted, “Policymakers and stakeholders have been discussing Good Samaritan legislative and administrative proposals for more than 15 years [now more than 20 years] in hopes of finding mechanisms to encourage cleanup and remediation of inactive and abandoned mine sites that harm or could harm the environment.”  The bipartisan Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act makes the long sought-after responsible cleaning up of abandoned mines easier.  Good Samaritans are upholding a duty to the natural environment as stewards of the land, and we must continue our work to ensure they have the support they need to work unencumbered by burdensome regulations and undue liability risks.

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