I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1266
To facilitate the reclamation of abandoned hardrock mines, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 10, 2005
Mr. UDALL of Colorado (for himself and Mr. SALAZAR) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To facilitate the reclamation of abandoned hardrock mines, 
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE, FINDINGS, AND PURPOSE. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Abandoned Hardrock Mines Reclamation Facilitation 
Act’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Through various laws and policies, including 
the Act of May 10, 1872 (commonly known as the 
General Mining Law of 1872; 30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.),
the Federal Government has encouraged the develop-
ment of gold, silver, and other mineral resources, es-
pecially in the western States, and development of 
these resources has helped create a strong economy 
and provided needed materials for many critical 
products and services. 
(2) However, historically mining activities have 
occurred in recurrent cycles of ‘‘boom’’ followed by 
‘‘bust’’, with many mines left inactive or abandoned 
at the end of each cycle. 
(3) As a result of this history, the United 
States has been left an unwelcome legacy of inactive 
or abandoned mines, including thousands of such 
mines in the western States. 
(4) Many of these inactive or abandoned mines 
pose safety hazards to the public, and the drainage 
and runoff from such mines has damaged thousands 
of stream miles to the detriment of water quality, 
particularly in several western States. 
(5) The environmental cleanup of these inactive 
or abandoned mines is hampered by the fact that in 
many cases, a responsible party for the mine site 
cannot be identified or lacks the economic resources 
to respond to the adverse environmental effects of a 
site, while other parties have been reluctant to un-
dertake remedial actions because of the possibility 
that they would be considered to have assumed li-
ability with regard to the site. 
(6) It is in the national interest to facilitate the 
cleanup of inactive or abandoned mines through ap-
propriate legislation that reduces this obstacle. 
(c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to facili-
tate cleanup of inactive and abandoned mine sites by lim-
iting the potential liability of parties undertaking to carry 
out such cleanup. 
(d) SCOPE.—Nothing in this Act is intended to facili-
tate new mining activities or any reduction in liability as-
sociated with any current or new mining or processing ac-
tivities. 
SEC. 2. ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED LAND WASTE RE-
MEDIATION PERMITS. 
Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act (33 U.S.C. 1342) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(r) ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED LAND WASTE 
REMEDIATION PERMITS.—
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol-
lowing definitions apply:
‘‘(A) IDENTIFIABLE
OWNER
OR
OPER-
ATOR.—The term ‘identifiable owner or oper-
ator’ means a person or entity—
‘‘(i) that is the current owner or oper-
ator or that is or was responsible for the 
activities at abandoned or inactive mined 
land that created conditions that cause or 
contribute to the discharge of pollutants 
from the abandoned or inactive mined 
land; and 
‘‘(ii) that is financially capable of 
compliance with requirements of this sec-
tion and sections 301 and 302. 
‘‘(B) PERMIT.—The term ‘permit’ means 
an abandoned or inactive mined land waste re-
mediation permit described under paragraph 
(2). 
‘‘(C) REMEDIATING PARTY.—The term ‘re-
mediating party’ means—
‘‘(i) the United States, except with re-
spect to abandoned or inactive mined land 
located on Federal land; 
‘‘(ii) a State or political subdivision 
thereof; or 
‘‘(iii) an Indian tribe.
‘‘(D) COOPERATING
PARTY.—The term 
‘cooperating party’ means any person or entity, 
including the Federal Government with respect 
to abandoned or inactive mined land located on 
non-Federal land, that implements the practices 
described in paragraph (3)(B)(viii). 
‘‘(2) PERMITS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator, 
with the concurrence of the State in which an 
abandoned or inactive mine remediation project 
is proposed or the Indian tribe which owns or 
has jurisdiction over the land on which a reme-
diation project is proposed, may issue an aban-
doned or inactive mined land waste remediation 
permit to a remediating party for discharges as-
sociated with remediation activity at any eligible 
area under this subsection, that modifies the 
otherwise applicable requirements of any other 
subsection of this section and of sections 301 
and 302. 
‘‘(B) DELEGATION.—The Administrator 
may delegate the authority for issuance of 
abandoned or inactive mined land waste rec-
lamation permits for discharges associated with 
remediation activities at any eligible area under