Clean Water Act stymies mine cleanups

The issue

The Clean Water Act requires that, under the terms of a permit, water quality must meet applicable stream standards, setting up a Catch-22 for potential Good Samaritans looking to improve environmental conditions.

LEADVILLE — Communities like Summit County which have been hard-hit by environmental degradation from abandoned mines advocated for reform of the Clean Water Act during the National Summit of Mining Communities Tuesday in Leadville.

The bedrock federal law makes it tough for volunteers to tackle remediation at many polluted mine sites without taking on crippling liability, said Bill Simon, coordinator for the Animas River Stakeholder Group. Stringent provisions in the Clean Water Act can pin perpetual liability on any group that fiddles with tainted water seeping from old mine workings, Simon explained.

“If you touch the water, you need a permit,” Simon said during a panel discussion on the need for a Good Samaritan law that would free volunteer cleanups from the liability trap.

Along with the strict water quality provisions, the Clean Water Act also opens the door for “third party” lawsuits against dischargers, a provision that had the unintended consequence of blocking community-based organizations who would have to assume responsibility for the site the minute they start working.

In the early 1990s, the U.S. Supreme Court reinforced the water quality and permitting provisions of the Clean Water Act in a case involving pollution from an abandoned mine in California.

“The result was a cessation of (volunteer) cleanups,” Simon said.

Since then, various proposals for amending the Clean Water Act have bubbled up in Congress nearly every year, but so far, none have passed.

According to Simon, opposition from the environmental community, including national groups like the Sierra Club, has been a major stumbling block. Those groups don’t want to tinker with the Clean Water Act at all.

“It’s a sacred cow,” he said, adding that environmental groups opposed the most recent attempt to pass a Good Samaritan bill last year.

“Environmental groups are the biggest hindrance at this time,” he said.

Additionally, the national groups haven’t heard from the grassroots people involved in cleanups, Simon said, encouraging community groups to lobby for Clean Water Act reform with elected officials and with environmental groups.

From their standpoint, groups like the Sierra Club are concerned that any relaxation of the law will make it even harder to improve water quality and enforce existing standards. The environmental community also does not support mining companies taking part in the clean-up provision, Simon said.

Finally, Simon explained that the lack of a Good Samaritan law doesn’t preclude cleanups altogether. Solid mine waste issues can be addressed, and even water quality concerns can be partially tackled, perhaps by preventing water from infiltrating old mine workings, he suggested.

The key is staying away from the discharge end of the abandoned mines, he said.

<i>Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 331-5996, or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.</i>