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SUMMIT COUNTY - New rules issued June 6 by the Environmental Protection Agency will speed up efforts to clean up pollution from orphaned mines by addressing some of the thorny liability issues up front.
Voluntary projects have long been stymied by threats of a third-party lawsuit. The new rules make it clear where those liabilities begin and end, said the EPA's Nat Miullo.
"These are the liability comfort zones the EPA is willing to give you," Miullo said.
At the same time, he emphasized that the changes will not undercut any existing environmental protections or affect liability at sites where a responsible party has been identified.
"If someone disposes of mine waste in an inappropriate spot, we don't want to release them from liability," he said.
"This will definitely help with the Snake River," said Elizabeth Russell, a Trout Unlimited (TU) expert who is coordinating an all-out push to treat high concentrations of zinc and other toxic metals seeping from the Pennsylvania Mine into Peru Creek, a key Snake River tributary. Like in hundreds of other streams around Colorado and the wider region, the acid mine drainage into the Snake River kills fish.
Russell said the new rules provide language on liability that has already been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"It's a template for a work plan, where you can just plug in the location and the parties," Russell said, explaining that this rule enables TU to fully engage in the Snake River cleanup, and then step away when a local nonprofit foundation has been formed to take over operation of a water treatment plant.
While the EPA deserves credit for taking this step, Russell said it still doesn't get to the heart of the liability issue, which relates to liability for pollution under the Clean Water Act.
"I don't want anyone to think this is it," Russell said, explaining that an act of Congress is needed to address those fundamental Clean Water Act issues. Past agreements on voluntary cleanups have sometimes taken years to complete.
"The mother of all these was French Gulch," he said, referring to an arduous multi-year stakeholder negotiation that eventually led to a remediation plan at the site of the Wellington-Oro Mine, with construction of a water treatment plan planned for this year.
In EPA jargon, the new rules means the "EPA and volunteer parties will now be able to enter into Good Samaritan settlement sgreements (that) provide key legal protections to Good Samaritans as non-liable parties including: a federal covenant not to sue under CERCLA and protection from third-party contribution suits. Other tools include a model comfort letter intended for Good Samaritan parties.
Good Samaritans to proceed with qualified projects, including efforts to remove and cap waste rock, tailings piles and soils contaminated with high levels of lead, arsenic, zinc, and other metals in areas where they threaten human health and water quality.
<i>Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 331-5996, or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.</i>
Voluntary projects have long been stymied by threats of a third-party lawsuit. The new rules make it clear where those liabilities begin and end, said the EPA's Nat Miullo.
"These are the liability comfort zones the EPA is willing to give you," Miullo said.
At the same time, he emphasized that the changes will not undercut any existing environmental protections or affect liability at sites where a responsible party has been identified.
"If someone disposes of mine waste in an inappropriate spot, we don't want to release them from liability," he said.
"This will definitely help with the Snake River," said Elizabeth Russell, a Trout Unlimited (TU) expert who is coordinating an all-out push to treat high concentrations of zinc and other toxic metals seeping from the Pennsylvania Mine into Peru Creek, a key Snake River tributary. Like in hundreds of other streams around Colorado and the wider region, the acid mine drainage into the Snake River kills fish.
Russell said the new rules provide language on liability that has already been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"It's a template for a work plan, where you can just plug in the location and the parties," Russell said, explaining that this rule enables TU to fully engage in the Snake River cleanup, and then step away when a local nonprofit foundation has been formed to take over operation of a water treatment plant.
While the EPA deserves credit for taking this step, Russell said it still doesn't get to the heart of the liability issue, which relates to liability for pollution under the Clean Water Act.
"I don't want anyone to think this is it," Russell said, explaining that an act of Congress is needed to address those fundamental Clean Water Act issues. Past agreements on voluntary cleanups have sometimes taken years to complete.
"The mother of all these was French Gulch," he said, referring to an arduous multi-year stakeholder negotiation that eventually led to a remediation plan at the site of the Wellington-Oro Mine, with construction of a water treatment plan planned for this year.
In EPA jargon, the new rules means the "EPA and volunteer parties will now be able to enter into Good Samaritan settlement sgreements (that) provide key legal protections to Good Samaritans as non-liable parties including: a federal covenant not to sue under CERCLA and protection from third-party contribution suits. Other tools include a model comfort letter intended for Good Samaritan parties.
Good Samaritans to proceed with qualified projects, including efforts to remove and cap waste rock, tailings piles and soils contaminated with high levels of lead, arsenic, zinc, and other metals in areas where they threaten human health and water quality.
<i>Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 331-5996, or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.</i>
