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 fallout from Colorado’s Gold King Mine spill in August continues to spread. In mid-January, New Mexico state officials served a “notice to sue” to the Environmental Protection Agency and several other parties for their roles in causing the 3-million-gallon deluge that poisoned the Animas and San Juan rivers with acidic mine water.
