I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2835

To provide for the remediation of abandoned and inactive hardrock mines 

in the Upper Animas River Basin in southwestern Colorado. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 23, 2003

Mr. MCINNIS (for himself, Mr. TANCREDO, and Mr. HEFLEY) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 

and Infrastructure 

A BILL

To provide for the remediation of abandoned and inactive 

hardrock mines in the Upper Animas River Basin in 

southwestern Colorado.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pilot Project, Good 

5 Samaritan Provision for Abandoned and Inactive Mined 

6 Land Remediation Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) Thousands of abandoned or inactive mines 

2 exist in the West and elsewhere in the United 

3 States. 

4 (2) Often, a party that is responsible for condi5 tions at abandoned or inactive mined land is not 

6 identifiable or economically viable, resulting in an in7 ability to compel the party to clean up the mine site. 

8 (3) Cleanup of these sites is hampered by liabil9 ity concerns and disagreements over how those con10 cerns should be addressed. 

11 (4) A pilot program in a small geographic area 

12 may demonstrate how best to address liability issues 

13 with a variety of ownership patterns and cooperating 

14 entities. 

15 (5) Only a small number of the hundreds of in16 active mines in the Upper Animas River Basin in 

17 San Juan County, Colorado, have been actively 

18 mined since the 1940’s. 

19 (6) Twenty nine total maximum daily load allo20 cations have been established pursuant to section 

21 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

22 (33 U.S.C. 1313) for particular metals in specific 

23 segments of the Upper Animas River Basin. 

24 (7) The Upper Animas River Basin is 1 of 2 

25 geographic areas nationwide chosen for intensive 
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1 study under the Department of the Interior’s aban2 doned mined lands initiative. 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to initiate 

4 a 10-year pilot program in the Animas River Basin which 

5 will facilitate the cleanup of abandoned and inactive mine 

6 sites in the Basin that negatively impact water quality by 

7 limiting liability under sections 301, 302, and 402 of the 

8 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313, 

9 1314, 1342) for third parties not responsible for the deg10 radation but who take steps to improve water quality. 

11 SEC. 3. ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED LAND REMEDI12 ATION PERMITS. 

13 Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

14 Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(r) ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED LAND REME17 DIATION PERMITS.—

18 ‘‘(1) LIMITED IN LOCATION.—This subsection 

19 applies only to abandoned or inactive hardrock 

20 mines located in the Animas River watershed above 

21 Elk Creek in San Juan County, Colorado. 

22 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol23 lowing definitions apply: 

24 ‘‘(A) ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED

25 LAND.—The term ‘abandoned or inactive mined 
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1 land’ means land formerly mined for noncoal 

2 resources—

3 ‘‘(i) that is no longer actively mined 

4 (and not in temporary shutdown) as of 

5 January 1, 1992; 

6 ‘‘(ii) that is not included, or proposed 

7 for inclusion, on the National Priorities 

8 List under the Comprehensive Environ9 mental Response, Compensation, and Li10 ability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et 

11 seq.); and 

12 ‘‘(iii) for which there is no known re13 sponsible owner or operator. 

14 ‘‘(B) RESPONSIBLE OWNER OR OPER15 ATOR.—The term ‘responsible owner or oper16 ator’ means a person or entity—

17 ‘‘(i) that is responsible for activities 

18 conducted at abandoned or inactive mined 

19 land that created conditions that cause or 

20 contribute to the discharge of pollutants 

21 from the abandoned or inactive mined 

22 land; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) that is financially capable of 

24 compliance with the requirements of sec25 tions 301 and 302 and this section. 
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1 ‘‘(C) PERMIT.—The term ‘permit’ means 

2 an abandoned or inactive mined land remedi3 ation permit described under paragraph (3). 

4 ‘‘(D) REMEDIATING PARTY.—The term ‘re5 mediating party’ means—

6 ‘‘(i) the United States, except with re7 spect to abandoned or inactive mined land 

8 located on Federal land; 

9 ‘‘(ii) the State of Colorado or political 

10 subdivision thereof; or 

11 ‘‘(iii) a private person or entity that is 

12 not—

13 ‘‘(I) a responsible owner or oper14 ator for the site to be remediated; or 

15 ‘‘(II) the legal owner of the site 

16 to be remediated. 

17 ‘‘(E) COOPERATING PARTY.—The term ‘co18 operating party’ means any person or entity, in19 cluding the Federal Government, that is not the 

20 legal owner of the site to be remediated and—

21 (i) participates in the design or imple22 mentation of the practices described in

23 subparagraph (4)(B)(viii) with respect to 

24 the site to be remediated; 
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1 ‘‘(ii) participates in the design or im2 plementation of monitoring or other forms 

3 of assessment described in subparagraph 

4 (4)(B)(x); or 

5 ‘‘(iii) raises, contributes, or admin6 isters funding or in-kind services for the 

7 purposes described in paragraph 

8 (4)(B)(viii) or (4)(B)(x). 

9 ‘‘(3) PERMITS.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, 

11 with the concurrence of the State of Colorado, 

12 may issue, modify, enforce, or terminate an 

13 abandoned or inactive mined land remediation 

14 permit to a remediating party for discharges as15 sociated with remediation activity at abandoned 

16 or inactive mined land, that modifies the other17 wise applicable requirements of any other sub18 section of this section and of sections 301, 302 

19 and 401. 

20 ‘‘(B) DELEGATION.—The Administrator 

21 may delegate all or part of the authority under 

22 subparagraph (A) to the State of Colorado. 

23 ‘‘(4) PERMIT PROCESS.—

24 ‘‘(A) SCOPE.—A remediating party may 

25 apply for a permit for remediation activities at 
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1 abandoned or inactive mined land from which 

2 there is or may be a discharge of pollutants to 

3 waters of the United States. 

4 ‘‘(B) REMEDIATION PLAN.—A remediating 

5 party that seeks a permit shall submit an appli6 cation for the permit that includes a remedi7 ation plan that—

8 ‘‘(i) identifies the remediating party 

9 and any persons cooperating with the re10 mediating party with respect to the plan; 

11 ‘‘(ii) identifies the geographic bound12 aries of the abandoned or inactive mined 

13 land addressed by the plan, including a 

14 verification that the land meets the re15 quirements of paragraphs (1) and (2)(A); 

16 ‘‘(iii) identifies the waters of the 

17 United States affected by past mining ac18 tivities at the abandoned or inactive mined 

19 land; 

20 ‘‘(iv) describes the baseline conditions 

21 of the waters at the time of the permit ap22 plication (including the nature and extent 

23 of any pollutant causing the impact); 

24 ‘‘(v) describes the physical and chem25 ical conditions at the abandoned or inactive 
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1 mined land that are causing adverse water 

2 quality impacts; 

3 ‘‘(vi) describes the applicant’s reason4 able efforts to identify—

5 ‘‘(I) current owners, lessees, and 

6 claimants of the abandoned or inactive 

7 mined land addressed by the plan; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(II) any persons or entities, in10 cluding mine operators, whose activi11 ties at the abandoned or inactive 

12 mined land after October 18, 1972, 

13 created conditions that cause or con14 tribute to the discharge of pollutants 

15 from abandoned or inactive mined 

16 land; 

17 ‘‘(vii) describes the remediation goals 

18 and objectives, including the pollutant or 

19 pollutants to be addressed by the plan; 

20 ‘‘(viii) describes the practices, includ21 ing a schedule and estimated completion 

22 date for implementing the practices, that 

23 are proposed to reduce, control, mitigate, 

24 or eliminate the adverse water quality im25 pacts, including—
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1 ‘‘(I) in the case of a new remedi2 ation project, the preliminary system 

3 design and construction, operation, 

4 and maintenance plans; and 

5 ‘‘(II) in the case of an existing 

6 remediation project, available system 

7 design and construction, operation, 

8 and maintenance plans and any 

9 planned improvements to the projects; 

10 ‘‘(ix) explains how the practices de11 scribed in clause (viii) are expected to re12 sult in furthering the objectives of existing 

13 total maximum daily load allocations under 

14 section 303(d) for the identified waters; 

15 ‘‘(x) describes the monitoring or other 

16 forms of assessment that will be under17 taken to evaluate the success of the prac18 tices during and after implementation, rel19 ative to baseline conditions; 

20 ‘‘(xi) describes contingency plans for 

21 responding to foreseeable, unplanned ad22 verse events, including stabilization of the 

23 site if remedial actions cease prematurely;
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1 ‘‘(xii) provides a schedule for periodic 

2 reporting on progress in implementing the 

3 plan; 

4 ‘‘(xiii) provides a budget for the plan 

5 and identifies the funding sources that will 

6 support the implementation of the plan; 

7 ‘‘(xiv) describes the applicant’s legal 

8 authority to enter and conduct activities at 

9 the abandoned or inactive mined land ad10 dressed by the plan; 

11 ‘‘(xv) contains any additional informa12 tion requested by the Administrator to 

13 clarify the plan and activities covered by 

14 the plan; and 

15 ‘‘(xvi) is signed by the applicant. 

16 ‘‘(C) REVIEW OF APPLICATION.—

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

18 shall review each permit application and 

19 determine whether the application meets 

20 the requirements of subparagraph (B). 

21 ‘‘(ii) DISAPPROVAL.—If the Adminis22 trator determines that an application does 

23 not meet the requirements of subpara24 graph (B), the Administrator shall notify 

25 the applicant that the application is dis-
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1 approved, explain the reasons for the dis2 approval, and allow the applicant to submit 

3 a revised application. 

4 ‘‘(iii) APPROVAL.—If the Adminis5 trator determines that an application 

6 meets the requirements of subparagraph 

7 (B), the Administrator shall notify the ap8 plicant that the application is accepted, 

9 provide to the public notice of and reason10 able opportunity to comment on the appli11 cation, and provide to the public an oppor12 tunity for a public hearing on the applica13 tion. 

14 ‘‘(D) ISSUANCE.—

15 ‘‘(i) DECISION TO ISSUE.—After no16 tice and opportunity for public comment on 

17 a permit proposed to be issued, the Admin18 istrator may issue a permit to the appli19 cant if the Administrator determines 

20 that—

21 ‘‘(I) relative to the resources 

22 available to the remediating party for 

23 the proposed remediation activity, the 

24 remediating party has made a reason-
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1 able effort to identify persons under 

2 subparagraph (B)(vi); 

3 ‘‘(II) no responsible owner or op4 erator exists; and 

5 ‘‘(III) the remediation plan dem6 onstrates with reasonable certainty 

7 that the implementation of the plan 

8 will result in an improvement in water 

9 quality and will lead toward the goal 

10 of meeting existing total maximum 

11 daily load allocations under section 

12 303(d) taking into consideration the 

13 resources available to the remediating 

14 party for the proposed remediation ac15 tivity. 

16 ‘‘(ii) DECISION NOT TO ISSUE.—If the 

17 Administrator decides not to issue a permit 

18 to the applicant, the Administrator shall 

19 notify the applicant of the reasons for not 

20 issuing the permit. 

21 ‘‘(E) MODIFICATION.—

22 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 45 

23 days after the receipt of a written request 

24 by a permittee and not later than 30 days 

25 after providing public notice and an oppor-
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1 tunity for comment, the Administrator 

2 shall approve or disapprove a modification 

3 of a permit, unless a public hearing is re4 quested by a member of the public, a tribe, 

5 a State agency, or a local governmental 

6 agency within 30 days after the provision 

7 of public notice. 

8 ‘‘(ii) PUBLIC HEARING.—If a public 

9 hearing is requested, the Administrator 

10 shall have an additional 90 days to provide 

11 for a public hearing and an opportunity for 

12 comment and approve or disapprove a 

13 modification of a permit. 

14 ‘‘(iii) APPROVAL.—A permit modifica15 tion approved by the Administrator under 

16 this subsection shall be—

17 ‘‘(I) by agreement of the per18 mittee and the Administrator; 

19 ‘‘(II) with the concurrence of the 

20 State of Colorado; 

21 ‘‘(III) in accordance with the 

22 standards in subparagraph 

23 (D)(i)(III); and 
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1 ‘‘(IV) immediately reflected in 

2 and applicable to the remediation per3 mit. 

4 ‘‘(5) CONTENTS OF PERMIT.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A permit under this 

6 subsection shall—

7 ‘‘(i) include a remediation plan ap8 proved by the Administrator and additional 

9 requirements that the Administrator estab10 lishes under paragraph (11); and 

11 ‘‘(ii) provide for compliance with and 

12 implementation of the remediation plan 

13 and any other requirements described 

14 under clause (i). 

15 ‘‘(B) REVIEW.—A permit under this sub16 section shall establish a schedule for review, by 

17 the Administrator, of compliance with the con18 ditions and limitations of the permit. 

19 ‘‘(C) COMPLIANCE WITH OTHER LIMITA20 TIONS.—A permit under this subsection shall 

21 not require the remediating party or any co22 operating parties with respect to the remedi23 ation plan to comply with any other subsection 

24 of this section or with sections 301 or 302.
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1 ‘‘(D) RECOVERABLE VALUE.—A remedi2 ation party is not prohibited from selling or 

3 using materials recovered during the implemen4 tation of the plan, but the proceeds of any such 

5 sale must be used to defray the costs of remedi6 ation of the site addressed in the permit or the 

7 costs of remediation of other abandoned or in8 active mined lands as defined in paragraphs (1) 

9 and (2)(A). 

10 ‘‘(6) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If, during the re11 view conducted under paragraph (5)(B), on the re12 ceipt of a petition from any person, or for any other 

13 appropriate reason, the Administrator determines 

14 that the remediating party has failed to comply with 

15 the provisions of the permit, the Administrator may 

16 bring an enforcement action under section 309. 

17 ‘‘(7) STATE CERTIFICATION.—In so far as this 

18 subsection may relate to water quality standards, 

19 certification under section 401 shall not apply to 

20 permits under this subsection. 

21 ‘‘(8) TERMINATION.—

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

23 shall terminate a permit issued under this sub24 section if—
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1 ‘‘(i) the remediating party completes 

2 the implementation of the remediation 

3 plan; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the discharge covered by the per5 mit becomes subject to a permit issued 

6 under the other subsections of this section 

7 for development that is not part of the im8 plementation of the remediation plan and 

9 the remediating party seeking termination 

10 of coverage is not a participant in the de11 velopment; 

12 ‘‘(iii) an event or condition is encoun13 tered that was not contemplated by the re14 mediation plan and is beyond the control 

15 of the permittee and the surface water 

16 quality conditions due to remediation ac17 tivities at the site, taken as a whole and 

18 with reference to the designated uses of 

19 the waters, are equal to or superior to the 

20 baseline conditions at the site as described 

21 in paragraph (4)(B)(iv); or 

22 ‘‘(iv) the permittee fails to conduct 

23 the remediation according to the approved 

24 remediation plan. 
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1 ‘‘(B) NO ENFORCEMENT LIABILITY.—If a 

2 permit is terminated under subparagraph (A), 

3 the remediating party or any cooperating par4 ties with respect to the remediation plan shall 

5 not be subject to enforcement under section 309 

6 or 505 for any remaining discharges from the 

7 abandoned or inactive mined land described in 

8 the permit. 

9 ‘‘(9) LIMITATIONS.—

10 ‘‘(A) EMERGENCY POWERS.—Nothing in 

11 this subsection limits the authority of the Ad12 ministrator under section 504. 

13 ‘‘(B) PRIOR VIOLATIONS.—Nothing in this 

14 subsection or a permit issued under this sub15 section precludes actions under section 309 or 

16 505 or affects the relief available in actions 

17 under those sections, with respect to violations 

18 of this section, or section 301(a) or 302 for a 

19 permit issued under this subsection, that oc20 curred prior to the issuance of a permit under 

21 this subsection. 

22 ‘‘(C) OBLIGATION OF STATES AND INDIAN

23 TRIBES.—Except as expressly provided, nothing 

24 in this subsection limits any obligation of a 

25 State or Indian tribe under section 303. 
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1 ‘‘(D) OTHER DEVELOPMENT.—Any devel2 opment of abandoned or inactive mined land 

3 (including mineral exploration or mining) not 

4 described in a permit issued by the Adminis5 trator under this subsection shall be subject to 

6 this Act (other than this subsection). 

7 ‘‘(10) LIABILITY OF OTHER PARTIES.—Nothing 

8 in this subsection limits the liability of any person 

9 other than the remediating party or any cooperating 

10 parties with respect to the remediation plan under 

11 this Act or any other law. 

12 ‘‘(11) REGULATIONS.—

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

14 after the date of enactment of this subsection, 

15 the Administrator, in consultation with State, 

16 tribal, and local officials and after providing the 

17 public with notice of, and opportunity for com18 ment and a hearing on, regulations proposed to 

19 be promulgated, shall promulgate regulations 

20 establishing generally applicable requirements 

21 for remediation plans described in paragraph 

22 (4)(B) and, as considered to be necessary by 

23 the Administrator, other paragraphs of this 

24 subsection.
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1 ‘‘(B) SPECIFIC REGULATIONS.—The Ad2 ministrator may promulgate, on a case-by-case 

3 basis, in consultation with State, tribal, and 

4 local officials, and after providing the public 

5 with notice of, and opportunity for comment 

6 and a hearing on, regulations proposed to be 

7 promulgated, more specific requirements that 

8 the Administrator determines would facilitate 

9 implementation of this subsection in an indi10 vidual abandoned or inactive mined land reme11 diation permit. 

12 ‘‘(12) FUNDING FOR IMPLEMENTING REMEDI13 ATION PLANS.—

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to 

15 be appropriated to the Administrator 

16 $5,000,000 to pay 67 percent of the costs of 

17 designing and implementing remediation plans 

18 for which permits are issued under this sub19 section. The remaining share of such costs may 

20 be provided with funds or in-kind services by 

21 private, local, State, or other Federal sources. 

22 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY.—The funds appropriated 

23 under this paragraph shall be allocated first to 

24 proposed remediation plans that are compara25 tively more likely than other proposed remedi-
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1 ation plans to further the objectives of the ex2 isting total maximum daily load allocations 

3 under section 303(d). 

4 ‘‘(13) REPORT.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

6 before the date of termination of permitting au7 thority specified in paragraph (14), the Admin8 istrator shall submit to Congress a report on 

9 the activities authorized by this subsection. 

10 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, the re11 port required under subparagraph (A) shall—

12 ‘‘(i) identify each permit, and associ13 ated remediating party, issued under this 

14 subsection; 

15 ‘‘(ii) identify the abandoned or inac16 tive mine land addressed by each such per17 mit (including the water bodies and base18 line water quality of the water bodies af19 fected by the land); 

20 ‘‘(iii) summarize the remediation plan 

21 associated with each permit issued under 

22 this subsection, including (I) the goals and 

23 objectives of the plan, (II) the plan budget, 

24 and the practices to be employed according 
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1 to the plan to reduce, control, mitigate, of 

2 eliminate adverse water quality impacts; 

3 ‘‘(iv) identify the status of the imple4 mentation of each remediation plan associ5 ated with each permit issued under this 

6 subsection (including specific progress that 

7 permitted remediation activities have made 

8 toward achieving the goals and objectives 

9 of the remediation plan); 

10 ‘‘(v) identify and describe any enforce11 ment action taken by the Administrator or 

12 any civil action brought by a citizen con13 cerning a permit issued under this sub14 section (including the disposition of the 

15 legal action); and 

16 ‘‘(vi) include recommendations by the 

17 Administrator for any modifications to this 

18 subsection, or regulations promulgated 

19 under paragraph (11) to implement this 

20 subsection, that would facilitate the im21 provement of water quality through reme22 diation of abandoned or inactive mined 

23 land. 

24 ‘‘(14) TERMINATION OF PERMITTING AUTHOR25 ITY.—The authority granted to the Administrator 
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1 under this subsection to issue an abandoned or inac2 tive mined land remediation permit terminates on 

3 the date that is 10 years after the date of enactment 

4 of this subsection.’’.

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