Legislation could help clean abandoned mines

Colorado is home to the headwaters of some of the nation’s most prominent and important rivers and streams: the Colorado River, the North and South Platte rivers, the Rio Grande and the Arkansas River among them.

Like most western states, Colorado is also the home to hundreds of legacy heavy metal mining sites, most of which were abandoned decades ago. Though both have contributed to the rich history of our state, they do not coexist very well.

Pollution from old mine sites is an ongoing problem. The problem gained national attention in the summer of 2015 when an EPA contractor accidentally released water from the Gold King Mine into the Animas River near Durango.

News outlets throughout North America carried pictures of this once pristine river flowing bright orange for miles. The public was outraged, lawsuits were filed and the EPA came under intense scrutiny for its mistake.

Though the furor has died down, the water quality issues still exist all over Colorado. Chris Wood, president/chief executive

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officer of Trout Unlimited, joined me on my radio show last Saturday to talking about potential help on the horizon.

Wood said there are approximately 110,000 miles of streams that are listed as impaired for heavy metals or acidity and abandoned mines are a major source of these impairments.

Of these impaired stream miles, Wood said 20 percent are within watersheds that contain native trout and salmon while 52 percent are in watersheds that are important drinking water sources. Billions of dollars have been spent cleaning up these leaking abandoned mines, but there is much more work to do.

With help from Congress this is a problem that can be tackled by passing “Good Samaritan legislation”.

The Clean Water Act along with “Super Fund” legislation has been extremely important in the restoration of water quality in the United States. But they’ve also been a major impediment to organizations such as Trout Unlimited getting more involved to help.

TU’s restoration specialists know how to leverage public and private dollars to fix degraded streams, creating jobs and clean water along the way. It is eager to take on leaking abandoned mines, but under federal law, groups who have no legal responsibility or connection to an abandoned mine (true Good Samaritans) are deterred from cleaning up these messes due to the high liability risks.

The problem can be solved by passing legislation that provides bona fide Good Samaritans liability protections while also holding them accountable to terms of their permits.

“Abandoned mines are a big problem, but with a little help from Congress, they are a problem we can tackle,” said Wood.

Water quality is an issue that affects us all. Anyone who enjoys the outdoors should be concerned about the habitat, not to mention the importance of clean drinking water.

Wood encourages everyone to get involved. Join an affinity group like Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, The Elk Foundation or others. A unified voice helps. If you can, donate time or money to one of these organizations.