Cleaning Up Waters Polluted by Abandoned Mines: Obstacles and Opportunities

1. Cleaning Up Waters Polluted by Abandoned Mines:Obstacles and Opportunities The Reynolds Lecture Series, Colorado Chautauqua Association University of Colorado Chancellors Office

2. Tonight’s Presentation • Abandoned Mines • Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • A Case Study: The Penn Mine • A Discussion of “Good Samaritan” Legislation • Doug Young • District Policy Director for Congressman Mark Udall • John Henderson • Partner, Vranesh and Raisch • Cathy Carlson • Policy Advisor, Mineral Policy Center

3. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2001 Abandoned Mines • 230,000+ in the West22,000 in Colorado 3,600 in Boulder Co. • generating acidity and metals • 2 out of 5 watersheds polluted • $30 billion+ cleanup costs

4. Abandoned Mines • Effects on water quality • acidity • dissolves metals • affects habitats • metals • toxic to aquatic organisms • toxic to humans • drinking water

5. Abandoned Mines • Effects on water quality • scarcity of water Dillon Reservoir, boat ramps, August 2002 Dillon Reservoir, spillway, August 2002

6. Abandoned Mines Bueno Mine/ “streamside tailings” Little James Creek, near Jamestown Stakeholder-run Initiative, LWOG Burlington Mine Balarat Gulch, near Jamestown Voluntary Cleanup, Honeywell Big Five Mine/Captain Jack Mill California Gulch, near Ward EPA Superfund

7. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Key issues • funding • property ownership • re-mining • liability • technology

8. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Funding: Who pays? • federal • Superfund (CERCLA) • leftover SMCRA (coal) funds to states • US Forest Service, BLM • Western states • funding $0 to $28 million • variety of sources (SMCRA) • mining companies • voluntary cleanups • royalties, fees? • responsibility for abandoned mines? Summitville Mine Superfund site; $175 million+

9. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Funding: Who Pays? • Everyone you can find!

10. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Property Ownership • definitions of “abandoned” and “inactive” • private owners • former • current • active • solvent • government lands Private land ownership around Bueno Mine, Jamestown

11. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Re-Mining • new mining at abandoned mines • waste rock, tailings • incentive for mining companies • common in coal mining (PA, WV)

12. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Liability • Clean Water Act • discharge permits for water treatment • assumption of liability for “remediating party” not responsible for pollution Abandoned house analogy (Gov. Janklow, South Dakota)

13. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Liable parties • government agencies • stakeholder groups • voluntary cleanups Burlington Mine subsidence pit pond

14. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Liability • “Environmental Good Samaritan Act, 1999”“A landowner or person who voluntarily provides equipment, materials, or services at no charge or at cost for a reclamation project or a water pollution abatement project in accordance with this chapter may be immune from civil liability...”Pennsylvania Title 27, Part VI.C., Chapter 81.

15. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Liability • Vintondale, PA • AMD & Art

16. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Technology • “Best Management Practices” • hydrology • waste removal • water diversions • erosion control and capping • re-vegetation • treatment • active • passive • wetlands

17. Approaches and Obstacles to Cleanup • Technology • effectiveness? • complicated problems • longevity? • maintenance and operation • costs • responsibilities

18. A Case Study: the Penn Mine • Pennsylvania Mine • Summit County, Colorado • active from 1870 to 1900s • silver, gold, copper, lead, zinc

19. The Penn Mine • Cleanup Efforts • acid mine drainage into Peru Creek, Snake River • 30-200 gallons per minute • remediating parties • Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology • Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado • treatment pond and constructed wetlands

20. The Penn Mine • Liability • Ruling on Penn Mine, CA • remediating parties concerned about liability • project stopped • cited as example of need for Good Samaritaran legislation

21. The Penn Mine

22. Summary • Remediation of abandoned mine lands • a challenging technical problem • made more difficult by • funding • property ownership • liability • Pennsylvania Mine and State of Pennsylvania • good examples of problems and solutions

23. Doug Young • Graduate of University of Colorado (Political Science) and University of Colorado School of Law • District Policy Director for Colorado Congressman Mark Udall since 1999 • Rocky Flats, wilderness legislation and forest fire policies on federal public lands, mine waste cleanup, transportation issues, open space preservation • former Director of Environmental Policy for both Governor Roy Romer and Senator Tim Wirth • Rocky Flats and Rocky Mountain Arsenal cleanups • Animas-La Plata water project negotiations • federal grazing policy reform

24. John Henderson • Graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Colorado Law School • Partner, Vranesh and Raisch law firm, Boulder, Colorado (23 years) • mining law (mining companies) • water law (ditch companies) • real property • land use • licensed to practice before the courts of the State of Colorado, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court • past Chair of the Mineral Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association

25. Cathy Carlson • Graduated from Humboldt State University (Wildlife Management) • Policy Advisor, Mineral Policy Center • advocate for mineral policy reform since 1987 • mineral development • oil and gas leasing and development • livestock grazing • fisheries and wildlife habitat conservation. • former Director of the National Wildlife Federation's regional office in Boulder, Colorado