House-passed legislation could make it easier for contracting firms and “good Samaritans” to clean up abandoned hard-rock and coal mines as well as sites of orphan oil and gas wells.
The legislation, part of a package of three bills targeted to reduce existing roadblocks to reclaiming abandoned mine lands, is a direct response to the Gold King Mine spill, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) said in a statement shortly after the July 5 vote. The August 2015 Gold King spill in Colorado released 3 million gallons of mine waste into the Animas River and drew national attention to the potential dangers of orphan mines.