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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pilot Project, Good 
Samaritan Provision for Abandoned and Inactive Mined 
Land Remediation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) Thousands of abandoned or inactive mines 
exist in the West and elsewhere in the United 
States. 
(2) Often, a party 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 party 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 
with a variety of ownership patterns and cooperating 
entities. 
(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) Twenty nine total maximum daily load allo-
cations have been established pursuant to section 
303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
(33 U.S.C. 1313) for particular metals in specific 
segments of the Upper Animas River Basin. 
(7) The Upper Animas River Basin is 1 of 2 
geographic areas nationwide chosen for intensive
study under the Department of the Interior’s aban-
doned mined lands initiative. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to initiate 
a 10-year pilot program in the Animas River Basin which 
will facilitate the cleanup of abandoned and inactive mine 
sites in the Basin that negatively impact water quality by 
limiting liability under sections 301, 302, and 402 of the 
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313, 
1314, 1342) for third parties not responsible for the deg-
radation but who take steps to improve water quality. 
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) LIMITED IN LOCATION.—This subsection 
applies only to abandoned or inactive hardrock 
mines located in the Animas River watershed above 
Elk Creek in San Juan County, Colorado. 
‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the fol-
lowing definitions apply: 
‘‘(A) ABANDONED
OR
INACTIVE
MINED 
LAND.—The term ‘abandoned or inactive mined
land’ means land formerly mined for noncoal 
resources—
‘‘(i) that is no longer actively mined 
(and not in temporary shutdown) as of 
January 1, 1992; 
‘‘(ii) that is not included, or proposed 
for inclusion, on the National Priorities 
List under the Comprehensive Environ-
mental Response, Compensation, and Li-
ability 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 or 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.