A watershed moment: Congress passes legislation to address toxic legacy of abandoned mines

Colorado has approximately 23,000 abandoned mines throughout the state, of which, more than 230 are known as draining mines that are currently causing environmental damage. More than 1,600 miles of Colorado streams and rivers are impaired by acid mine drainage.

From Trout Unlimited

Bipartisan “Good Samaritan” legislation will pave the way for long-awaited cleanups of toxic mine waste 

Contacts: 

• Chris Wood, President and CEO, Trout Unlimited – chris.wood@tu.org 

• Corey Fisher, Public Lands Policy Director, Trout Unlimited – corey.fisher@tu.org 

• Zoe Bommarito, National Advocacy Communications Director, Trout Unlimited – zoe.bommarito@tu.org, 517-604-1844 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, in a historic bipartisan achievement two decades in the making, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act (S.2781 / H.R.7779). The legislation is expected to be signed into law by President Biden. This long-sought legislation will pave the way for Trout Unlimited, state agencies, and other third parties to increase the pace and scale of efforts to clean up abandoned hardrock mines, tens of thousands of which are polluting waterways across the country. 

The legislation was championed by U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Jim Risch (R-ID) and U.S. Reps. Celeste Maloy (R-UT), Mary Peltola (D-AK), and Susie Lee (D-NV). It cleared the Senate by unanimous consent in July. Congress has debated Good Samaritan legislation for more than two decades. Trout Unlimited thanks Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for their bipartisan support in bringing the legislation to the House floor.

“Today marks an important step toward cleaning up our nation’s rivers and streams,” said Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited. “Over 40 percent of small mountain streams in the West are polluted by heavy metals from abandoned mines. This bill is about clean water and healthy communities. It will make it possible for organizations that had nothing to do with the causes of pollution to make our rivers and streams cleaner. We commend Congress for taking this critical step, and especially thank Senators Heinrich and Risch, along with Representatives Maloy, Peltola and Lee, for their leadership in bringing Good Samaritan legislation over the finish line.” 

Abandoned mines are historic mine sites – often a century old or more – where there are no parties that can be held responsible for cleaning up mine waste. Current federal laws treat organizations that volunteer to clean up these abandoned mines—including state agencies and private non-profits groups like Trout Unlimited—as if they are the very polluters who left behind the mine waste.  

This creates daunting obstacles that prevent abandoned mine cleanups, including complicated permitting and long-term legal and financial liability for any remaining mine pollution.  

“Clean water and healthy fish and wildlife habitat are values that unite us,” said Corey Fisher, Public Policy Director at Trout Unlimited. “For too long, toxic hardrock mine waste has polluted rivers, causing downstream impacts to communities and wildlife. This common-sense law will give us a critical tool to turn the tide, restoring clean water to watersheds across the West and beyond.” 

The Good Samaritan legislation establishes a new program under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), providing limited liability protections for up to 15 low-risk abandoned mine cleanup pilot projects conducted by state agencies, tribes, and qualified volunteer parties.  

Trout Unlimited, the leading conservation organization dedicated to restoring America’s rivers, recovering trout and salmon, and conserving clean water, has long championed the need for Good Samaritan protections to accelerate cleanup efforts. The organization played a pivotal role in advocating for the legislation, drawing on decades of on-the-ground restoration experience to raise awareness about the urgent need for action. 

“Colorado voices have long called for legislation to empower Good Samaritans to conduct mine remediation projects, and with more than 23,000 abandoned mines statewide, the significance for our waters is clear. We look forward to seeing one or more pilot projects under this bill take place here in Colorado, so that we and our partners can finally roll up our sleeves and get to work improving water quality. Colorado’s U.S. Senators have been leaders on Good Samaritan legislation for decades, and we thank Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper for all their hard work and dedication in bringing this commonsense legislation to fruition,” said David Nickum, Executive Director, Colorado Trout Unlimited.

Learn more about Good Samaritan legislation at https://www.tu.org/good-samaritan. 

We Are the Animas - Anniversary of Gold King Mine Spill

Written By: Ty Churchwell This week marks a rather unsavory anniversary for the people of the Animas River Valley in southwest Colorado.  Two years ago, on August 5^th, EPA contractors doing some investigative work at the Gold King mine accidentally released over 3 million gallons of heavy metal-laden mine water into the headwaters of the Animas River near Silverton.  The plume of mustard yellow water was a visual reminder of the many draining mines in the upper watershed and made international news.  One of Colorado’s finest trout fisheries was deemed a toxic mess by the media, and Durango was seen as an unhealthy (a community with tourism as a foundation of its local economy).  This characterization probably sold lots of newspapers, but is far from the truth.

As the plume of dirty, yellow water approached Durango – eight hours down river from the source - biologists from Colorado Parks & Wildlife placed a wire cage in the Animas full of fingerling trout as indicators of toxicity.  Not a single trout in the cage died, and local anglers did not report any dead trout in the river in the days and weeks following the spill.  It appeared the Animas’ Gold Medal trout water had dodged a bullet.  We now know this to be true.

For those of us who live here and are intimately aware of the issues with mine-related water quality in the headwaters, we know the reality.  The dozens of draining mines near Silverton discharge the equivalent load of metals as one Gold King spill every 5-7 days, and have been doing so for decades.  The natural loading of metals alone has been occurring since the beginning of time.  While there are acute impacts to the fishery way up top, the fishery in Durango remains a vibrant and notable brown trout destination for anglers.

We do not wish to minimize the Gold King spill. But, this was just an event and does not define our community or river.  Looking on the bright side, there have been a number of silver linings to this unfortunate incident.

1)  The issue and threats of acid mine drainage (AMD) in the west has been brought to the attention of other communities where legacy mining exists in their headwaters.  EPA estimates that 40% of western headwater streams are impacted by AMD.

2)  Lawmakers in D.C. are finally paying attention to the problem of AMD in the west.  This may prompt regulatory changes, such as enactment of Good Samaritan legislation and/or reform of the General Mining Act of 1872.

3)  The elected leaders of Silverton, recognizing something must finally be done, made the decision to seek a Superfund cleanup of the many mines impacting water quality.  In September of last year, the upper Animas River was formally placed on EPA’s Superfund national priorities list.  Crews are already in town and the multi-year cleanup process is underway.

With the Gold King spill in our rear view mirror, TU and local anglers are looking forward to helping craft programs that mitigate the impact of mine drainage in our headwater streams.  In the meantime, the Animas River in Durango remains one of the finest trout fisheries in Colorado.  One need not travel to Chile’ to net a 27” meat-eating brown trout.  We here in Durango know those monsters reside in the Animas right now.  With cleanup efforts underway, this amazing fishery can only get better. Follow along with the progress at www.WeAreTheAnimas.com.

This article was written by Ty Churchwell, San Juan Mountains Coordinator for TU’s Sportsmen’s Conservation Project located in Durango, CO.

Revegetation at Lower Creek Site

By Lauren Duncan On June 14^th, Trout Unlimited’s Abandoned Mine Lands team joined up with Colorado Trout Unlimited volunteers and US Forest Service staff and volunteers for a successful revegetation workday at the Lower Creek project site.

The Lower Creek site is located approximately 9 miles northwest of Boulder within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland in Boulder County, Colorado. Lower Creek (formerly known as Carnage Creek), is a tributary to Left Hand Creek in Boulder County and drains into the South Platte River is the prior to the 2013 floods, the area was used as an unregulated, undesignated shooting area for several decades. The accumulation of lead and target debris within the site became apparent during the flood event of 2013. In 2015, Trout Unlimited, the US Forest Service and RMC Consultants remediated the site to reduce concentrations of lead in soil, surface water, and streambed sediment.

The project team had the opportunity this year to revisit the site to complete follow up sampling to ensure the success of 2015 construction and to revegetate the site in areas where vegetation was struggling. This year’s efforts were extremely successful! Lefthand Watershed Oversight Group has conducted water quality sampling at the site, and their efforts have revealed greatly reduced lead levels across the site.

The revegetation work day included upwards of 20 staff and volunteers and, in several hours, we incorporated 600 pounds of fertilizer, 1,350 pounds of Biochar and 4,200 pounds of compost across the site. This was a tough day of work, but because of the efforts of everyone involved in the day, it was a great success.

Throughout this summer and early fall, Trout Unlimited and the Lefthand Watershed Oversight Group will continue to monitor revegetation success and perform water quality sampling under different flow conditions. We look forward to the future success of this site and are thankful to all our volunteers, project partners and for our continued programmatic support from Newmont Mining and Freeport-McMoRan.

Lauren Duncan is a projects manager for Trout Unlimited's Abandoned Mine Lands program in Colorado.