HR-7779-118
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 703.
Sponsored by Celeste Maloy (R-UT)
What it does
This bill would create a 7-year EPA pilot program issuing up to 15 permits to volunteer "Good Samaritans" — entities with no prior connection to a mine site — to clean up abandoned hardrock mines (non-coal) on federal, state, tribal, or private land. Permit holders would be shielded from liability under the Clean Water Act and CERCLA for pollution that existed before and during their cleanup work, provided they follow the permit's terms. The bill also allows up to 15 separate investigative sampling permits so volunteers can assess a site before committing to full remediation.
Who benefits
Nonprofit organizations, conservation groups, mining companies, and other volunteers willing to clean up sites they did not pollute, who currently face legal liability that deters participation. Downstream communities — including rural towns, tribal nations, and municipalities — whose drinking water sources are contaminated by acid mine drainage. Anglers, recreationists, and tourism-dependent businesses near affected waterways. Federal and state governments that would see private resources applied to a cleanup backlog estimated in the hundreds of thousands of sites. Landowners near abandoned mines whose property values may improve. Tribal nations with treaty rights to downstream water and fish.
Who is hurt
Environmental advocacy groups and downstream communities who argue the liability shield could be exploited or could reduce pressure on responsible parties. Entities that might otherwise be compelled to clean up sites who could argue the program reduces urgency. Taxpayers who fund EPA oversight of the pilot program. Competing cleanup contractors who lose business to volunteer Good Samaritans. States and tribes that administer their own water quality programs and may have less control over cleanup standards under the federal permit framework. Communities near sites where a cleanup goes wrong, since the Good Samaritan's liability is limited even for permit-compliant accidents.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that an estimated 500,000 abandoned hardrock mine sites across the American West contaminate thousands of miles of streams with acid mine drainage, heavy metals, and other pollutants, yet sit untouched because any volunteer cleaner risks inheriting full CERCLA and Clean Water Act liability the moment they disturb the site. They contend this bill directly removes that legal deterrent through a carefully structured, time-limited pilot with strict eligibility requirements, mandatory environmental review, public comment, and financial assurance — ensuring only qualified, well-resourced actors participate while protecting downstream communities and tribal water rights.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that the liability shield, while limited to permit-compliant activities, could be structured or exploited to allow mining-adjacent interests to access and process historic mine residue under the guise of remediation, effectively subsidizing mineral recovery with public regulatory cover. They contend that the bill's exclusion of Superfund National Priorities List sites leaves the most contaminated locations untouched, while the pilot's 15-permit cap and 7-year sunset may be too narrow to generate meaningful data — raising questions about whether the program addresses the scale of the problem or merely creates a precedent for broader liability waivers.
Constitutional context
The bill operates under Congress's Commerce Clause authority (Art. I, §8, cl. 3), which underpins both CERCLA and the Clean Water Act. By explicitly granting liability waivers from these statutes, Congress is exercising its authority to define the scope of laws it enacted, which is well within its power. Post-Loper Bright (2024), EPA's discretionary determinations under the permit program — such as assessing "low risk" or "measurable progress" — will face independent judicial scrutiny rather than automatic deference, meaning ambiguous statutory terms could be contested in court.
Checks and balances
The EPA Administrator gains new discretionary permitting authority, checked by mandatory NEPA environmental review, public comment requirements, Federal land management agency co-approval for federal lands, state and tribal consultation rights, a hard 15-permit cap, a 7-year program sunset, and judicial review of permit decisions.
Historical precedent
Congress has attempted to pass Good Samaritan mine cleanup legislation in multiple prior sessions (including the 109th and 110th Congresses) without enactment; no directly analogous federal pilot program granting CWA/CERCLA liability waivers to volunteer mine remediators has previously been signed into law.