There are tens of thousands of
abandoned mines in the U.S. Many of these
mines emit acid mine drainage laced with heavy
metals which can contaminate the water quality
of rivers and streams. In a number of
instances, Good Samaritans are willing to
conduct mine reclamation at these sites if they
have environmental liability protection from the
Clean Water Act (CWA) and perhaps the
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). This liability
protection, which could encourage mine cleanups,
can only occur through federal legislation.
This website is designed to inform and
educate people about a legal issue that severely
hampers mine remediation and reclamation at
inactive and abandoned mine sites. Since 1994,
when the issue first arose, most efforts to pass
so called “Good Samaritan legislation” have
focused on hardrock mines which are situated
mostly in the western United States. The
targeted mine sites are limited to those where
whoever may be liable for cleaning up the site
is either long gone or doesn’t have the
financial resources to address the problem.
While the need for Good Samaritan
legislation is well recognized, there are a
number of opinions as to how broad the liability
protections should be, who they should apply to,
and to what sites should they be applied. So
far there has not been enough of a consensus on
these issues to allow federal legislation to
move forward. In the meantime, thousands of
mines continue to disgorge their contaminates
with little expectation that anything will be
done. This website is dedicated to
furthering discussions and education on this
subject in the hopes that appropriate
legislation will be enacted to help Good
Samaritans.
