The House is planning to vote this week on bipartisan legislation that would protect good Samaritan groups willing to clean up polluting, abandoned hardrock mines — marking the possible end to Democratic discord and a decadeslong impasse on Capitol Hill.
S. 2781, from Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), is teed up for a vote on the House floor under suspension of the rules. That’s a means of advancing measures with broad support fast.
The “Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2024” would offer limited liability protections for good Samaritan groups volunteering to remediate abandoned mine sites releasing pollutants like arsenic, cadmium, zinc, lead and other toxins. The work, which would occur at 15 projects under an EPA pilot program, does not include funding.
Heinrich in an interview said he’s watched for decades as lawmakers like former Sens. Mark Udall (D-Colo.)and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) tried unsuccessfully to push through the language to clean up mines that litter the West.
