Copyright 2000 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
June 21, 2000, Wednesday
SECTION: PREPARED TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1024 words
HEADLINE:
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF SARA KENDALL WASHINGTON, D.C. REPRESENTATIVE THE WESTERN
ORGANIZATION OF RESOURCE COUNCILS, WORC
BEFORE THE
SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE FISHERIES AND
WILDLIFE AND WATER SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBJECT - S. 1787: "GOOD
SAMARITAN ABANDONED OR INACTIVE MINE WASTE REMEDIATION ACT"
BODY:
Good morning. My name is Sara Kendall,
and I am the Washington, D.C. Representative for the Western Organization of
Resource Councils, or WORC. WORC is an association of grassroots community-based
organizations in six western states -the Dakota Resource Council in North
Dakota, Dakota Rural Action in South Dakota, the Idaho Rural Council, the
Northern Plains Resource Council in Montana, the Powder River Basin Resource
Council in Wyoming, and the Western Colorado Congress. We work primarily on
environmental and family farm agriculture issues. Many of our members live and
work in communities impacted by mining and abandoned mine lands.
I'd
like to start by commending the Subcommittee for its interest in addressing the
persistent problem of pollution from abandoned mines. Abandoned mines are one of
the major sources of water pollution in western states. These sites release
sediments, heavy metals and other toxic chemicals into community water supplies,
are harmful to fish and wildlife, and often impact local economies.
The
primary obstacles that must be addressed if these sites are to be cleaned up are
the minimal efforts currently being made to track clown responsible parties and
the lack of sufficient funds for remediation. But, we acknowledge that it is
also important for states to stretch the funds they do have as far as possible.
In addition, we recognize that, at some abandoned mine sites, it would be
difficult to restore streams to the applicable water quality standards. For
these masons, we support the concept at the core of Senator Baucus' Good
Samaritan legislation -- reducing water quality standards and liability for
third parties that want to clean up abandoned mines.
I'd like to express
WORC's appreciation for changes that Senator Baucus and the Western Governors'
Association made from earlier drafts of the legislation to address concerns
raised by our organization and others: S. 1787 is restricted to state, tribal
and municipal governments, eliminating the concern that loopholes in earlier
versions might have allowed a potentially responsible party to qualify as a good
samaritan. The bill's requirement that revenue generated through the use or sale
of minerals be used for additional remediation alleviates the concern that it is
inappropriate for a good samaritan to profit from cleaning up a site to anything
less than Clean Water Act standards, but does so without going so far as to
prohibit the sale of such resources and thereby shut off a potential source of
additional clean up funds. The ten-year sunset leaves room for the Congress to
extend the Act if it is a success, but ensures that it will automatically lapse
if it is not. The more detailed requirements for an analysis of baseline
conditions at the site will help good samaritans document their successes and
respond if charges are made that their remediation efforts increased pollution
from an abandoned site. Limiting the bill to abandoned hard rock mine sites
removes questions over the need for reducing water quality standards at coal
sites, where clean ups are occurring at a much higher rate than they are at hard
rock sites, thanks to the coal royalty that funds an abandoned mine land clean
up program.
We view all of these changes as positive developments that
will enhance abandoned mine remediation and protect the interests of communities
and taxpayers.
We continue to have concerns, however, with a couple of
S. 1787's provisions. We remain concerned that the best efforts of the states,
tribes or municipalities will not always succeed in improving water quality, and
in some cases may actually result in increased pollution. S. 1787 would not hold
good samaritans responsible for meeting the clean up goals they themselves set,
or even to the level of pollution documented in the baseline analysis, as long
as they stick to their remediation plans. We believe that if the good samaritan
actually increases the pollution from the mine site, they should be held liable
for returning the site to the condition documented in the baseline analysis.
It is a basic tenet of the Clean Water Act that any party must try to
achieve some objective or standard for water quality. While, as I said earlier,
we recognize that it would be difficult to restore streams at some abandoned
mines to the applicable water quality standards, we strongly urge the
incorporation of a mechanism for establishing a clear objective good samaritan
remediation efforts, with input from people in the impacted communities. There
are mechanisms in place today under the Clean Water Act, such as a Use
Attainability Assessment (or some modification thereof), that could be used to
address this concern.
Finally, the reduced water quality standards and
liability waiver should only apply to mines that are truly abandoned, and not to
sites that are inactive, in bankruptcy proceedings or permitted.In closing, we
ask that you consider, in addition to this Good Samaritan legislation, a more
comprehensive approach to the problems associated with abandoned hard rock mines
in the West. Many states still need to inventory their abandoned mine sites and
set priorities for clean up. Strategies need to be developed to remediate the
high priority sites, including attempting to identify the parties who own the
mine sites and are responsible for the pollution. Funds are needed for states,
tribes or municipalities to pursue responsible parties and, when necessary, to
remediate pollution problems. Without an adequate funding source, no waiver of
liability will even begin to address the problem.
Although S. 1787 has
the potential to facilitate the clean up of a number of abandoned mine sites,
this potential is very limited because the Good Samaritan approach picks at the
edges of a problem fundamentally caused by an antiquated law and outdated
regulations under that law. We hope that the Subcommittee will address the
concerns we've raised and move forward with S. 1787, but we urge you to make it
part of a more comprehensive approach to the abandoned mine problem.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
END
LOAD-DATE: June 22, 2000