Sen. Martin Heinrich\u2019s (D-N.M.) Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December. Co-led with Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), this legislation will make it easier for \u201cGood Samaritans,\u201d such as state agencies, nonprofits and other groups, to clean up and improve water quality in and around abandoned hardrock mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heinrich applauded the passage of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives and hailed the Senate\u2019s unanimous passage of the bill in July. The House companion legislation is led by U.S. Representatives Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), and Susie Lee (D-Nev.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur Good Samaritan legislation is now the law of the land, after more than 25 years of hard work to get it over the finish line. Good Samaritans will no longer face hurdles preventing them from helping to protect the land, water, fish and wildlife our communities rely on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This victory belongs to every single person who rolled up their sleeves to fix this longstanding roadblock, and I\u2019d like to thank those who have carried the baton to get us to this point. Now it\u2019s time to get to work to clean up abandoned mines in New Mexico and across the country, making our water cleaner and lands safer,\u201d said Heinrich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter years of red tape and unnecessary barriers, Good Samaritans willing to clean up long-abandoned mine sites can finally move forward with meaningful remediation. I\u2019m proud to have led the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act with Senator Heinrich and look forward to the positive impacts this law will have on our land and water in Idaho,\u201d said Risch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday, we celebrate Utahns having more freedom,\u201d said Maloy. \u201cWith this bill signed into law, Utahns can bypass bureaucratic hurdles and senseless lawsuits to clean up abandoned mines for the benefit of their communities. This achievement is the culmination of decades of bipartisan work, and I want to thank everyone who helped get this commonsense bill across the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAbandoned hardrock mines in Nevada and across the country are poisoning our waters, threatening Tribal lands, and their hazardous landscapes have injured and killed Americans. For 25 years, bills like this one to clean up these mines have stalled because of Washington politics. Today, we made history by finally empowering nonprofits and agencies that are willing and able to assist this long overdue clean up,\u201d said Lee. \u201cBecause of commonsense bipartisanship, our nation is now on a path to cleaner waters and safer landscapes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. has hundreds of thousands of abandoned hardrock mine features, of which at least 33,000 pose environmental hazards according to the GAO. Organizations that have no legal or financial responsibility to an abandoned mine \u2013 true Good Samaritans \u2013 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 had no involvement with the mine prior to cleaning it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sen. Martin Heinrich\u2019s (D-N.M.) Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December. Co-led with Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), this legislation will make it easier for \u201cGood Samaritans,\u201d such as state agencies, nonprofits and other groups, to clean up and improve water quality in and around abandoned hardrock mines. Heinrich applauded…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[3650,3261],"coauthors":[1644],"class_list":["post-9712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law","tag-good-samaritan-remediation-of-abandoned-hardrock-mines-act","tag-hardrock-mines"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t