Bennet, Colleagues Celebrate Unanimous, Bipartisan Senate Passage of Legislation to Clean Up Abandoned Mines

Washington, D.C. - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, alongside U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), applauded the Senate's unanimous and bipartisan passage of the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act.

"Thousands of abandoned mines in Colorado and across the American West threaten our watersheds and pollute our ecosystems," said Bennet. "I'm grateful for the strong bipartisan support to pass this legislation to make it easier for our state, local governments, and nonprofits to clean up these mines, help reduce pollution, and improve water quality."

"Good Samaritan organizations are ready to help clean up abandoned mines that are threatening our communities and polluting the land, water, fish, and wildlife we rely on. I'm proud of the work we have done to advance our commonsense, bipartisan legislation to create a path for these groups to clean up sites in New Mexico and across our country," said Heinrich. "Efforts to get this done started well before I came to Congress. It's been an honor to get it across the finish line in the Senate, and I won't stop working on this until it's law."

"Today's Senate passage of our Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act puts us one step closer to cutting the red tape that has prevented good faith actors from cleaning up long-abandoned hardrock mines," said Risch. "I urge the House of Representatives to take up and pass this commonsense legislation to allow Good Samaritans to conduct this important remediation work."

There are thousands of abandoned hardrock mines across the country that pose environmental hazards. Organizations that have no legal or financial responsibility to an abandoned mine want to volunteer to remediate some of these sites. Unfortunately, liability rules would leave these 'Good Samaritans' legally responsible for all the pre-existing pollution from a mine, even though they had no involvement with the mine prior to cleaning it up.

The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act creates a pilot permitting program to enable not-for-profit cleanup efforts to move forward, while ensuring Good Samaritans have the skills and resources to comply with federal oversight. This pilot program is designed for lower risk projects that will improve water and soil quality or otherwise protect human health.

In 2022, Bennet introducedthe Clean Energy Minerals Reform Act to modernize our nation's severely outdated hardrock mining law. Bennet, Heinrich and Risch reintroducedthe Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act last year.