S 1848, the Cleanup of Inactive and Abandoned Mines Act

U.S. Mining: Abandoned Mines: AML Bills: S 1848

S. 1848, Cleanup of Inactive and Abandoned Mines Act

Like the Bush Administration proposal, S. 1848 -- introduced by Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Wayne Allard (R-CO) -- has lofty goals for cleaning up pollution from abandoned mines, but it is seriously flawed:

• S. 1848 contains no funding for mine clean-up, and requires no contribution from industry to address mine pollution;
   
  
• The bill allows liability waivers under eight major environmental laws, including the law governing Superfund sites;
   
   
• Performance standards (i.e. cleanup standards) are poorly defined, and the permitting process is insufficiently thorough or transparent;
   
  
• By allowing remining and reprocessing projects, S. 1848 could in fact increase the amount of pollution from abandoned mines, rather than decreasing it.

Representative Mark Udall's billsare a better choice for addressing the nation's abandoned mine cleanup problem .

For More Information

• S 1848 -- the Cleanup of Inactive and Abandoned Mines Act
   
  
• Good "Good Sam" -- Representative Mark Udall's abandoned mine reclamation legislation.