Conservation groups are cheering the passage of new federal legislation that aims to help local officials and environmental groups remediate abandoned mines that threaten the country’s watersheds. 

The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act, approved by the United States House of Representatives on Tuesday following an earlier vote in the Senate, now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk. 

The legislation will create a pilot program that grants permits to state agencies, local governments, and nonprofits to remediate mines. It also grants new protections for liabilities that have complicated cleanup efforts in the past.

There are an estimated 140,000 abandoned hardrock mine features throughout the United States, with around 23,000 in Colorado. 

About 22,500 of all abandoned mines pose environmental hazards by leaching toxic, heavy metals into water sources, according to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

The partnership, along with conservation group Trout Unlimited, has long supported federal legislation that adds new protections for mine cleanup work. 

Joel Pedersen, the partnership’s CEO, said in a statement the bill “has been a priority for the hunting and angling community for over a quarter century, and I look forward to seeing it signed into law.”