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Senators propose act to clean up mines

Legislation would encourage groups to volunteer at old sites

Joseph Garcia, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 13, 2006 at midnight

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U.S. Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard hope to clean up thousands of abandoned mines across Colorado that pose threats to the environment through a proposed "good Samaritan" program.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will review the Colorado senators' Cleanup of Inactive and Abandoned Mines Act at a hearing Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

The legislation will encourage companies, community groups, environmental agencies and others to volunteer and use their own resources to help clean up inactive, abandoned noncoal mines with a permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.

It will also release the good Samaritans from any liability for the pollution.

Now, full responsibility for a mine site's contamination rests with those in charge of cleaning it up.

According to Salazar communications director Cody Wertz, one of the most common tasks will involve the tailing piles - mounds of dirt and debris left behind from mining activity - which may hold chemicals that can leach into and contaminate nearby streams and other water sources.

Mining companies, river conservation coalitions, land groups and communities have vested interests in the environmental safety of the old mine sites, Wertz said.

The senators hope Congress will pass the act this year.

The proposed legislation is not designed to replace the EPA's Superfund program, which uses federal money to contract companies to clean up large, hazardous waste mining sites, Wertz said.

The mines covered by Salazar and Allard's proposal include those that do not qualify for Superfund status but still need to be cleaned up.

"I am pleased to be able to join with Sen. Salazar to put forth a bipartisan solution to a problem that demands our immediate attention," Allard said in a news release.

"We've all witnessed the abandoned mines along the I-70 corridor - and throughout the West.

"Our legislation will allow these contaminated, abandoned mines to be cleaned up free of taxpayers' expense."

The senators say the proposal has met with "broad support from stakeholders in both the political and business arenas."