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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Animas River Good Samaritan Mined Land Remediation 
Pilot Project Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 
(1) thousands of abandoned or inactive mines 
exist in the West and elsewhere in the United States 
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that often cause acid mine drainage into our Na-
tion’s waters; 
(2) often, a person that is responsible for condi-
tions at abandoned or inactive mined land is not 
identifiable or economically viable, resulting in an in-
ability to compel the person to clean up the mine 
site; 
(3) cleanup of these sites is hampered by liabil-
ity concerns and disagreements over how those con-
cerns should be addressed; 
(4) a pilot program in a small geographic area 
may demonstrate how best to address liability issues; 
(5) only a small number of the hundreds of in-
active mines in the Upper Animas River basin in 
San Juan County, Colorado, have been actively 
mined since the 1940’s; 
(6) 29 total maximum daily load allocations 
have been established pursuant to section 303(d) of 
the Federal Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1313(d)) for particular metals in specific segments 
of the Upper Animas River basin; and 
(7) the Upper Animas River basin is one of 2 
geographic areas nationwide chosen for intensive 
study under the Department of Interior’s Abandoned 
Mine Lands Initiative. 
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(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to initiate 
a 10-year pilot program in the Upper Animas River basin 
which facilitates the cleanup of abandoned and inactive 
mine sites in the basin that negatively impact water qual-
ity by limiting liability under sections 301, 302, and 402 
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1311, 1313, 1342) for third parties not responsible for 
the degradation but who take steps to improve water qual-
ity. 
SEC. 3. ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINED LAND REMEDI-
ATION 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 REME-
DIATION PERMITS.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol-
lowing definitions apply: 
‘‘(A) ABANDONED
OR
INACTIVE
MINED 
LAND.—The term ‘abandoned or inactive mined 
land’ means land located in the Animas River 
watershed above Elk Creek in San Juan Coun-
ty, Colorado, formerly hardrock mined for 
noncoal resources— 
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‘‘(i) that is no longer actively mined 
(and not in temporary shutdown) as of 
January 1, 1992; 
‘‘(ii) that is not included on the Na-
tional Priorities List under the Com-
prehensive Environmental Response, Com-
pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 
U.S.C. 9601 et seq.); and 
‘‘(iii) for which there is no known re-
sponsible owner or operator. 
‘‘(B) RESPONSIBLE
OWNER
OR
OPER-
ATOR.—The term ‘responsible owner or oper-
ator’ means a person, including a governmental 
entity— 
‘‘(i) that is responsible for activities 
conducted 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 the requirements of sec-
tions 301 and 302 and this section. 
‘‘(C) REMEDIATING PARTY.—The term ‘re-
mediating party’ means— 
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‘‘(i) the United States, except with re-
spect to abandoned or inactive mined land 
located on Federal land; 
‘‘(ii) the State of Colorado or political 
subdivision thereof; or 
‘‘(iii) a person that is not— 
‘‘(I) responsible for activities con-
ducted at the site to be remediated 
that caused or contributed to the dis-
charge of pollutants from the site; or 
‘‘(II) the owner of the site. 
‘‘(D) COOPERATING
PARTY.—The term 
‘cooperating party’ means any person, including 
a governmental entity, that is not the owner of 
the site to be remediated or responsible for ac-
tivities conducted at the site to be remediated 
that caused or contributed to the discharge of 
pollutants from the site— 
‘‘(i) participates in the design or im-
plementation of the practices described in 
paragraph (3)(B)(viii) with respect to such 
site; 
‘‘(ii) participates in the design or im-
plementation of monitoring or other forms 
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of assessment described in paragraph 
(3)(B)(x) with respect to such site; or 
‘‘(iii) raises, contributes, or admin-
isters funding or in-kind services for the 
purposes 
described 
in 
paragraph 
(3)(B)(viii) or (3)(B)(x) with respect to 
such site. 
‘‘(2) PERMITS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Administrator 
shall conduct beginning on the 90th day fol-
lowing the date of enactment of this subsection 
a 10-year pilot project under which the Admin-
istrator, with the concurrence of the State of 
Colorado, may issue, modify, enforce, or termi-
nate a permit issued under this section to a re-
mediating party for discharges associated with 
remediation activity at abandoned or inactive 
mined land and that modifies the otherwise ap-
plicable requirements of any other subsection of 
this section or section 301, 302, or 401. 
‘‘(B) DELEGATION.—The Administrator 
may delegate all or part of the authority under 
subparagraph (A) to the State of Colorado. 
‘‘(3) PERMIT PROCESS.— 
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‘‘(A) SCOPE.—A remediating party may 
apply for a permit under this section for reme-
diation activities at abandoned or inactive 
mined land from which there is or may be a 
discharge of pollutants to waters of the United 
States. 
‘‘(B) REMEDIATION PLAN.—A remediating 
party that seeks a permit under subparagraph 
(A) shall submit an application for the permit 
that includes a remediation plan that— 
‘‘(i) identifies the remediating party 
and any cooperating parties with respect to 
the plan; 
‘‘(ii) identifies the geographic bound-
aries of the abandoned or inactive mined 
land addressed by the plan, including a 
verification that the land is abandoned or 
inactive mined land; 
‘‘(iii) identifies the waters of the 
United States affected by past mining ac-
tivities at the abandoned or inactive mined 
land; 
‘‘(iv) describes the baseline conditions 
of the waters at the time of the permit ap-
plication (including the nature and extent 
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of any pollutant causing an adverse water 
quality impact); 
‘‘(v) describes the physical and chem-
ical conditions at, and pollutants from, the 
abandoned or inactive mined land that are 
causing adverse water quality impacts; 
‘‘(vi) describes the applicant’s reason-
able efforts to identify— 
‘‘(I) current owners and lessees 
of the abandoned or inactive mined 
land; and 
‘‘(II) any persons, including mine 
operators, whose activities at or on 
such land after October 18, 1972, cre-
ated conditions that cause or con-
tribute to the discharge of pollutants 
from such land; 
‘‘(vii) describes the remediation goals 
and objectives of the plan, including the 
pollutant or pollutants to be addressed by 
the plan; 
‘‘(viii) describes the practices, includ-
ing a schedule and estimated completion 
date for implementing the practices, that 
are proposed to reduce, control, mitigate, 
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or eliminate the adverse water quality im-
pacts described in clause (v), including— 
‘‘(I) in the case of a new remedi-
ation project, the preliminary system 
design and construction, operation, 
and maintenance plans; and 
‘‘(II) in the case of an existing 
remediation project, available system 
design and construction, operation, 
and maintenance plans and any 
planned improvements to the project; 
‘‘(ix) explains how the practices de-
scribed in clause (viii) are expected to re-
sult in furthering the objectives of existing 
total maximum daily load allocations under 
section 303(d) for the identified waters; 
‘‘(x) describes the monitoring or other 
forms of assessment that will be under-
taken to evaluate the success of the prac-
tices described in clause (viii) during and 
after implementation of such practices, rel-
ative to baseline conditions; 
‘‘(xi) describes a mechanism or meth-
od that will ensure the full net environ-
mental benefits of the project are realized 
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in the future even if ownership of the land 
changes; 
‘‘(xii) describes contingency plans for 
responding to foreseeable, unplanned, ad-
verse events; 
‘‘(xiii) provides a schedule for periodic 
reporting on progress in implementing the 
plan; 
‘‘(xiv) provides a budget for the plan 
and identifies the funding sources that will 
support the implementation of the plan; 
‘‘(xv) describes the applicant’s legal 
authority to enter and conduct activities at 
or on the abandoned or inactive mined 
land to be addressed by the plan; 
‘‘(xvi) contains any additional infor-
mation requested by the Administrator to 
clarify the plan and activities covered by 
the plan; and 
‘‘(xvii) is signed by the applicant. 
‘‘(C) REVIEW OF APPLICATION.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 
shall review each permit application sub-
mitted under subparagraph (B), and deter-
mine whether the application meets the re-
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quirements of subparagraph (B) and con-
tains all the information required by the 
Administrator, within 90 days of the date 
of such submittal. 
‘‘(ii) DISAPPROVAL.—If the Adminis-
trator determines that an application sub-
mitted under subparagraph (B) does not 
meet the requirements of subparagraph 
(B), the Administrator, shall notify the ap-
plicant that the application is disapproved, 
explain the reasons for the disapproval, 
and allow the applicant to submit a revised 
application. 
‘‘(iii) APPROVAL.—If the Adminis-
trator determines that a permit application 
submitted under subparagraph (B) meets 
the requirements of subparagraph (B) and 
contains all the information required by 
the Administrator, the Administrator shall 
notify the applicant of the proposed 
issuance of the permit being applied for, 
provide to the public notice in the San 
Juan County, Colorado, and La Plata 
County, Colorado, newspapers of, and an 
opportunity to comment on, such proposed 
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issuance and hold a public hearing on such 
proposed issuance in the Animas River wa-
tershed, Colorado. 
‘‘(D) ISSUANCE.— 
‘‘(i) DECISION TO ISSUE.—After no-
tice and opportunity for public comment on 
a permit proposed to be issued for mined 
land under subparagraph (C)(iii), the Ad-
ministrator may issue the permit to the ap-
plicant remediation party if the Adminis-
trator, with the concurrence of the State of 
Colorado, determines that— 
‘‘(I) relative to the resources 
available to the remediating party for 
the proposed remediation activity, the 
remediating party has made a reason-
able effort to identify persons under 
subparagraph (B)(vi); 
‘‘(II) no responsible owner or op-
erator exists for the mined land; and 
‘‘(III) the remediation party has 
demonstrated with reasonable cer-
tainty that the implementation of the 
remediation plan will result in an im-
provement in water quality and will 
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