I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5071 

To establish a pilot project for the remediation of abandoned and inactive 

hardrock mines in the Upper Animas River basin in southwestern Colorado. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2006 

Mr. SALAZAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To establish a pilot project 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 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Animas River Good Samaritan Mined Land Remediation 

6 Pilot Project Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

9 (1) thousands of abandoned or inactive mines 

10 exist in the West and elsewhere in the United States 


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1 that often cause acid mine drainage into our Na2 tion’s waters; 

3 (2) often, a person that is responsible for condi4 tions at abandoned or inactive mined land is not 

5 identifiable or economically viable, resulting in an in6 ability to compel the person to clean up the mine 

7 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 (5) only a small number of the hundreds of in14 active mines in the Upper Animas River basin in 

15 San Juan County, Colorado, have been actively 

16 mined since the 1940’s; 

17 (6) 29 total maximum daily load allocations 

18 have been established pursuant to section 303(d) of 

19 the Federal Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 

20 1313(d)) for particular metals in specific segments 

21 of the Upper Animas River basin; and 

22 (7) the Upper Animas River basin is one of 2 

23 geographic areas nationwide chosen for intensive 

24 study under the Department of Interior’s Abandoned 

25 Mine Lands Initiative. 


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

2 a 10-year pilot program in the Upper Animas River basin 

3 which facilitates the cleanup of abandoned and inactive 

4 mine sites in the basin that negatively impact water qual5 ity by limiting liability under sections 301, 302, and 402 

6 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 

7 1311, 1313, 1342) for third parties not responsible for 

8 the degradation but who take steps to improve water qual9 ity. 

10 SEC. 3. ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED LAND REMEDI11 ATION PERMITS. 

12 Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

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

14 the following: 

15 ‘‘(r) ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED LAND REME16 DIATION PERMITS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol18 lowing definitions apply: 

19 ‘‘(A) ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED

20 LAND.—The term ‘abandoned or inactive mined 

21 land’ means land located in the Animas River 

22 watershed above Elk Creek in San Juan Coun23 ty, Colorado, formerly hardrock mined for 

24 noncoal resources— 


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

2 (and not in temporary shutdown) as of 

3 January 1, 1992; 

4 ‘‘(ii) that is not included on the Na5 tional Priorities List under the Com6 prehensive Environmental Response, Com7 pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 

8 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.); and 

9 ‘‘(iii) for which there is no known re10 sponsible owner or operator. 

11 ‘‘(B) RESPONSIBLE OWNER OR OPER12 ATOR.—The term ‘responsible owner or oper13 ator’ means a person, including a governmental 

14 entity— 

15 ‘‘(i) that is responsible for activities 

16 conducted at abandoned or inactive mined 

17 land that created conditions that cause or 

18 contribute to the discharge of pollutants 

19 from the abandoned or inactive mined 

20 land; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) that is financially capable of 

22 compliance with the requirements of sec23 tions 301 and 302 and this section. 

24 ‘‘(C) REMEDIATING PARTY.—The term ‘re25 mediating party’ means— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the United States, except with re2 spect to abandoned or inactive mined land 

3 located on Federal land; 

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

5 subdivision thereof; or 

6 ‘‘(iii) a person that is not— 

7 ‘‘(I) responsible for activities con8 ducted at the site to be remediated 

9 that caused or contributed to the dis10 charge of pollutants from the site; or 

11 ‘‘(II) the owner of the site. 

12 ‘‘(D) COOPERATING PARTY.—The term 

13 ‘cooperating party’ means any person, including 

14 a governmental entity, that is not the owner of 

15 the site to be remediated or responsible for ac16 tivities conducted at the site to be remediated 

17 that caused or contributed to the discharge of 

18 pollutants from the site— 

19 ‘‘(i) participates in the design or im20 plementation of the practices described in 

21 paragraph (3)(B)(viii) with respect to such 

22 site; 

23 ‘‘(ii) participates in the design or im24 plementation of monitoring or other forms 


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1 of assessment described in paragraph 

2 (3)(B)(x) with respect to such site; or 

3 ‘‘(iii) raises, contributes, or admin4 isters funding or in-kind services for the 

5 purposes described in paragraph 

6 (3)(B)(viii) or (3)(B)(x) with respect to 

7 such site. 

8 ‘‘(2) PERMITS.— 

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

10 shall conduct beginning on the 90th day fol11 lowing the date of enactment of this subsection 

12 a 10-year pilot project under which the Admin13 istrator, with the concurrence of the State of 

14 Colorado, may issue, modify, enforce, or termi15 nate a permit issued under this section to a re16 mediating party for discharges associated with 

17 remediation activity at abandoned or inactive 

18 mined land and that modifies the otherwise ap19 plicable requirements of any other subsection of 

20 this section or section 301, 302, or 401. 

21 ‘‘(B) DELEGATION.—The Administrator 

22 may delegate all or part of the authority under 

23 subparagraph (A) to the State of Colorado. 

24 ‘‘(3) PERMIT PROCESS.— 


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

2 apply for a permit under this section for reme3 diation activities at abandoned or inactive 

4 mined land from which there is or may be a 

5 discharge of pollutants to waters of the United 

6 States. 

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

8 party that seeks a permit under subparagraph 

9 (A) shall submit an application for the permit 

10 that includes a remediation plan that— 

11 ‘‘(i) identifies the remediating party 

12 and any cooperating parties with respect to 

13 the plan; 

14 ‘‘(ii) identifies the geographic bound15 aries of the abandoned or inactive mined 

16 land addressed by the plan, including a 

17 verification that the land is abandoned or 

18 inactive mined land; 

19 ‘‘(iii) identifies the waters of the 

20 United States affected by past mining ac21 tivities at the abandoned or inactive mined 

22 land; 

23 ‘‘(iv) describes the baseline conditions 

24 of the waters at the time of the permit ap25 plication (including the nature and extent 


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1 of any pollutant causing an adverse water 

2 quality impact); 

3 ‘‘(v) describes the physical and chem4 ical conditions at, and pollutants from, the 

5 abandoned or inactive mined land that are 

6 causing adverse water quality impacts; 

7 ‘‘(vi) describes the applicant’s reason8 able efforts to identify— 

9 ‘‘(I) current owners and lessees 

10 of the abandoned or inactive mined 

11 land; and 

12 ‘‘(II) any persons, including mine 

13 operators, whose activities at or on 

14 such land after October 18, 1972, cre15 ated conditions that cause or con16 tribute to the discharge of pollutants 

17 from such land; 

18 ‘‘(vii) describes the remediation goals 

19 and objectives of the plan, including the 

20 pollutant or pollutants to be addressed by 

21 the plan; 

22 ‘‘(viii) describes the practices, includ23 ing a schedule and estimated completion 

24 date for implementing the practices, that 

25 are proposed to reduce, control, mitigate, 


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1 or eliminate the adverse water quality im2 pacts described in clause (v), including— 

3 ‘‘(I) in the case of a new remedi4 ation project, the preliminary system 

5 design and construction, operation, 

6 and maintenance plans; and 

7 ‘‘(II) in the case of an existing 

8 remediation project, available system 

9 design and construction, operation, 

10 and maintenance plans and any 

11 planned improvements to the project; 

12 ‘‘(ix) explains how the practices de13 scribed in clause (viii) are expected to re14 sult in furthering the objectives of existing 

15 total maximum daily load allocations under 

16 section 303(d) for the identified waters; 

17 ‘‘(x) describes the monitoring or other 

18 forms of assessment that will be under19 taken to evaluate the success of the prac20 tices described in clause (viii) during and 

21 after implementation of such practices, rel22 ative to baseline conditions; 

23 ‘‘(xi) describes a mechanism or meth24 od that will ensure the full net environ25 mental benefits of the project are realized 


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1 in the future even if ownership of the land 

2 changes; 

3 ‘‘(xii) describes contingency plans for 

4 responding to foreseeable, unplanned, ad5 verse events; 

6 ‘‘(xiii) provides a schedule for periodic 

7 reporting on progress in implementing the 

8 plan; 

9 ‘‘(xiv) provides a budget for the plan 

10 and identifies the funding sources that will 

11 support the implementation of the plan; 

12 ‘‘(xv) describes the applicant’s legal 

13 authority to enter and conduct activities at 

14 or on the abandoned or inactive mined 

15 land to be addressed by the plan; 

16 ‘‘(xvi) contains any additional infor17 mation requested by the Administrator to 

18 clarify the plan and activities covered by 

19 the plan; and 

20 ‘‘(xvii) is signed by the applicant. 

21 ‘‘(C) REVIEW OF APPLICATION.— 

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

23 shall review each permit application sub24 mitted under subparagraph (B), and deter25 mine whether the application meets the reVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:44 Apr 04, 2006 Jkt 049196 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5071.IH H5071

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1 quirements of subparagraph (B) and con2 tains all the information required by the 

3 Administrator, within 90 days of the date 

4 of such submittal. 

5 ‘‘(ii) DISAPPROVAL.—If the Adminis6 trator determines that an application sub7 mitted under subparagraph (B) does not 

8 meet the requirements of subparagraph 

9 (B), the Administrator, shall notify the ap10 plicant that the application is disapproved, 

11 explain the reasons for the disapproval, 

12 and allow the applicant to submit a revised 

13 application. 

14 ‘‘(iii) APPROVAL.—If the Adminis15 trator determines that a permit application 

16 submitted under subparagraph (B) meets 

17 the requirements of subparagraph (B) and 

18 contains all the information required by 

19 the Administrator, the Administrator shall 

20 notify the applicant of the proposed 

21 issuance of the permit being applied for, 

22 provide to the public notice in the San 

23 Juan County, Colorado, and La Plata 

24 County, Colorado, newspapers of, and an 

25 opportunity to comment on, such proposed 


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1 issuance and hold a public hearing on such 

2 proposed issuance in the Animas River wa3 tershed, Colorado. 

4 ‘‘(D) ISSUANCE.— 

5 ‘‘(i) DECISION TO ISSUE.—After no6 tice and opportunity for public comment on 

7 a permit proposed to be issued for mined 

8 land under subparagraph (C)(iii), the Ad9 ministrator may issue the permit to the ap10 plicant remediation party if the Adminis11 trator, with the concurrence of the State of 

12 Colorado, determines that— 

13 ‘‘(I) relative to the resources 

14 available to the remediating party for 

15 the proposed remediation activity, the 

16 remediating party has made a reason17 able effort to identify persons under 

18 subparagraph (B)(vi); 

19 ‘‘(II) no responsible owner or op20 erator exists for the mined land; and 

21 ‘‘(III) the remediation party has 

22 demonstrated with reasonable cer23 tainty that the implementation of the 

24 remediation plan will result in an im25 provement in water quality and will 


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1 further the goal of meeting existing 

2 total maximum daily load allocations 

3 applicable under section 303(d) taking 

4 into consideration the resources avail5 able to the remediating party for the 

6 proposed remediation activity. 

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

8 Administrator decides not to issue the per9 mit to the applicant, the Administrator 

10 shall notify the applicant of the reasons for 

11 not issuing the permit not later than 30 

12 days after the date of the decision. 

13 ‘‘(E) MODIFICATION.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 

15 days after the date of receipt of a written 

16 request for modification of a permit issued 

17 under subparagraph (D), the Adminis18 trator shall provide to the public notice of 

19 such request. Not later than 30 days after 

20 the last date on which such notice is pro21 vided, the Administrator shall approve or 

22 disapprove the modification, unless a pub23 lic hearing is requested by a person, Indian 

24 tribe, State agency, or local governmental 

25 agency during such 30-day period. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) PUBLIC HEARING.—If a public 

2 hearing is requested under clause (i), the 

3 Administrator shall have 90 days begin4 ning on the date of such request to hold in 

5 the Animas River watershed a public hear6 ing on the modification and approve or dis7 approve the modification. 

8 ‘‘(iii) APPROVAL.—The Administrator 

9 may only approve a permit modification 

10 under this subparagraph if— 

11 ‘‘(I) the State of Colorado con12 curs in such approval; and 

13 ‘‘(II) the Administrator deter14 mines that the modified remediation 

15 plan will comply with subparagraph 

16 (D)(i)(III). 

17 ‘‘(iv) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISION.— 

18 The Administrator shall ensure that a per19 mit modification approved under this sub20 paragraph is immediately reflected in, and 

21 applicable to, the permit. 

22 ‘‘(4) CONTENTS OF PERMIT.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A permit issued or 

24 modified, or both, under this subsection shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) include a remediation plan ap2 proved by the Administrator and any addi3 tional requirements that the Administrator 

4 establishes under paragraph (10); 

5 ‘‘(ii) provide for compliance with and 

6 implementation of the remediation plan 

7 and the additional requirements; 

8 ‘‘(iii) establish a schedule for review 

9 by the Administrator of compliance with 

10 the conditions and limitations of the per11 mit; and 

12 ‘‘(iv) exempt the remediating party or 

13 any cooperating parties with respect to the 

14 remediation plan from complying with any 

15 other subsection of this section or with sec16 tion 301 or 302. 

17 ‘‘(B) RECOVERABLE VALUE.—A remedi18 ation party for a permit issued or modified, or 

19 both, under this subsection is not prohibited 

20 from selling or using materials recovered during 

21 the implementation of the remediation plan 

22 under the permit, but the proceeds of any such 

23 sale must be used to defray the costs of remedi24 ation of the mined land addressed in the permit 


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1 or the costs of remediation of other abandoned 

2 or inactive mined lands. 

3 ‘‘(5) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If, during a review 

4 conducted under paragraph (4)(A)(iii), on the re5 ceipt of a petition from any person, or for any other 

6 appropriate reason, the Administrator determines 

7 that the remediating party for a permit issued or 

8 modified, or both, under this subsection has failed to 

9 comply with the provisions of the permit, the Admin10 istrator may bring an enforcement action under sec11 tion 309. 

12 ‘‘(6) STATE CERTIFICATION.—To the extent 

13 that this subsection relates to water quality stand14 ards, a certification under section 401 shall not 

15 apply to a permit issued or modified, or both, under 

16 this subsection. 

17 ‘‘(7) TERMINATION.— 

18 ‘‘(A) MANDATORY.—The Administrator, 

19 with the concurrence of the State of Colorado, 

20 shall terminate a permit issued or modified, or 

21 both, under this subsection if— 

22 ‘‘(i) the remediating party completes 

23 the implementation of the remediation 

24 plan; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) a discharge covered by the per2 mit becomes subject to a permit issued 

3 under the other subsections of this section 

4 that is not part of the implementation of 

5 the remediation plan. 

6 ‘‘(B) DISCRETIONARY.—The Adminis7 trator, with the concurrence of the State of Col8 orado, may terminate a permit issued or modi9 fied, or both, under this subsection if— 

10 ‘‘(i) an event or condition is encoun11 tered that was not contemplated by the re12 mediation plan and is beyond the control 

13 of the remediating party; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) the remediating party fails to 

15 conduct the remediation according to the 

16 approved remediation plan. 

17 ‘‘(C) NO ENFORCEMENT LIABILITY.—If a 

18 permit is terminated under this paragraph, the 

19 remediating party and any cooperating parties 

20 with respect to the remediation plan shall not 

21 be subject to enforcement under section 309 or 

22 505 for any remaining discharges from the 

23 abandoned or inactive mined land described in 

24 the permit. 

25 ‘‘(8) LIMITATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) EMERGENCY POWERS.—Nothing in 

2 this subsection limits the authority of the Ad3 ministrator under section 504. 

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

5 subsection or a permit issued or modified, or 

6 both, under this subsection precludes an action 

7 under section 309 or 505 or affects the relief 

8 available in an action under such section, with 

9 respect to a violation of this section or section 

10 301(a) or 302 that occurred prior to the 

11 issuance of a permit under this subsection. 

12 ‘‘(C) OBLIGATION OF STATES AND INDIAN

13 TRIBES.—Except as expressly provided, nothing 

14 in this subsection limits any obligation of a 

15 State or Indian tribe under section 303. 

16 ‘‘(D) OTHER DEVELOPMENT.—Nothing in 

17 this subsection affects the applicability of this 

18 Act (other than this subsection) to any develop19 ment of abandoned or inactive mined land (in20 cluding mineral exploration or mining) not de21 scribed in a permit issued by the Administrator 

22 under this subsection. 

23 ‘‘(9) LIABILITY OF OTHER PARTIES.—Nothing 

24 in this subsection limits the liability under this Act 

25 (other than this subsection) or any other law of any 


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1 person (other than the remediating party and any 

2 cooperating parties) with respect to the remediation 

3 plan for a permit approved or modified, or both, 

4 under this subsection. 

5 ‘‘(10) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year 

6 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 

7 Administrator, in consultation with the State of Col8 orado, tribal, and local officials and after providing 

9 notice, an opportunity for comment, and a hearing, 

10 shall issue regulations establishing generally applica11 ble requirements for remediation plans described in 

12 paragraph (3)(B) and such other regulations as the 

13 Administrator considers necessary to carry out this 

14 subsection 

15 ‘‘(11) FUNDING FOR IMPLEMENTING REMEDI16 ATION PLANS.— 

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

18 be appropriated to the Administrator 

19 $30,000,000 to pay 85 percent of the costs of 

20 designing and implementing remediation plans 

21 for which permits are issued under this sub22 section. The remaining share of such costs may 

23 be provided with funds or in-kind services by 

24 private, local, State, or other Federal sources, 

25 including grants under section 319. 


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

2 under this paragraph shall be allocated first to 

3 proposed remediation plans that are compara4 tively more likely than other proposed remedi5 ation plans to further the objectives of the ex6 isting total maximum daily load allocations 

7 under section 303(d) with respect to discharges 

8 from abandoned or inactive mined land. 

9 ‘‘(12) REPORTS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the 

11 last day of each of the 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 10th 

12 years of the pilot program conducted pursuant 

13 to this subsection, the Administrator shall sub14 mit to Congress a report on the activities car15 ried out under this subsection. 

16 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The report under sub17 paragraph (A) shall, at a minimum— 

18 ‘‘(i) identify each permit issued under 

19 this subsection and associated remediating 

20 party; 

21 ‘‘(ii) identify the abandoned or inac22 tive mined land addressed by each permit 

23 issued under this subsection (including the 

24 water bodies and baseline water quality of 

25 the water bodies affected by the land); 


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1 ‘‘(iii) summarize the remediation plan 

2 associated with each permit issued under 

3 this subsection, including the goals and ob4 jectives of the plan, the plan budget, and 

5 the practices to be employed according to 

6 the plan to reduce, control, mitigate, or 

7 eliminate adverse water quality impacts on 

8 such water bodies; 

9 ‘‘(iv) identify the status of the imple10 mentation of each remediation plan associ11 ated with each permit issued under this 

12 subsection (including specific progress that 

13 permitted remediation activities have made 

14 toward achieving the goals and objectives 

15 of the remediation plan); 

16 ‘‘(v) identify and describe any enforce17 ment action taken by the Administrator or 

18 any civil action brought by a citizen con19 cerning a permit issued under this sub20 section (including the disposition of the 

21 legal action); and 

22 ‘‘(vi) include recommendations by the 

23 Administrator for any modifications to this 

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1 section, that would facilitate the improve2 ment of water quality through remediation 

3 of abandoned or inactive mined land. 

4 ‘‘(13) TERMINATION OF PERMITTING AUTHOR5 ITY.—The authority granted to the Administrator 

6 under this subsection to issue an abandoned or inac7 tive mined land remediation permit terminates on 

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

9 of this subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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