WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced today that their Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden. This legislation will make it easier for “Good Samaritans,” such as state agencies, nonprofits, and other groups, to clean up and improve water quality in and around abandoned hardrock mines.

“After years of red tape and unnecessary barriers, Good Samaritans willing to clean up long-abandoned mine sites can finally move forward with meaningful remediation. I’m proud to have led the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act with Senator Heinrich and look forward to the positive impacts this law will have on our land and water in Idaho,” said Risch.

“Our Good Samaritan legislation is now the law of the land, after more than 25 years of hard work to get it over the finish line. Good Samaritans will no longer face hurdles preventing them from helping to protect the land, water, fish, and wildlife our communities rely on. This victory belongs to every single person who rolled up their sleeves to fix this longstanding roadblock, and I’d like to thank those who have carried the baton to get us to this point. Now it’s time to get to work to clean up abandoned mines in New Mexico and across the country, making our water cleaner and lands safer,” said Heinrich.

Background

The U.S. has hundreds of thousands of abandoned hardrock mine features, of which at least 33,000 pose environmental hazards according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Organizations that have no legal or financial responsibility to an abandoned mine – true Good Samaritans – 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.