Bill Would Make Companies Responsible for Mine Cleanup Costs
By Charles Ashby
April 17, 2018 - Mining companies would have to ensure they will clean up after themselves once their mining operations are done under a bill that won final approval in the Colorado House on Monday.
While Republicans said the measure, HB1301, was unfair to an entire industry, Democrats said they are tired of the multiple abandoned mines in the state that taxpayers have been left to clean up.
Under current law, mining companies are not required to have bonds designed to cover the cost of reclamation of a mine once operations are done, but only to show they have the financial wherewithal to cover any reclamation costs.
Critics of that practice, however, say that oftentimes companies show they can't afford to pay those costs, and often end up abandoning them, such as the Gold King Mine near Durango that turned the Animas River bright orange in 2015.
"If a mine is self-bonded for their water-quality treatment, if that company goes out of business and there is a spill, what is there left to help clean up the water?" asked Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Eagle, who introduced the bill with Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango. "Not the company. Not their financial assets. It's the taxpayers."
House Republicans said current regulations are sufficient, and it is unfair to require coal and hard-rock mining companies to do more.
"Self-bonding is rarely used, but in fact it's allowed, and it's been allowed for many, many years," said Rep. Cole Wist, R-Centennial. "House Bill 1301 will be a future barrier to hard-rock mining. This has been well-regulated. The case law's very clear on this. It's unnecessary."
Wist said the spill at the Gold King Mine wasn't the fault of the mining industry, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Democrats countered that the EPA wouldn't have been involved in that mine and forced to use taxpayer dollars to clean up the spill had the private mining company that operated it not abandoned it in the first place.
"This bill is asking people to clean up after themselves so that you as taxpayers don't have to clean up after them," McLachlan said. "This strictly says that people need to put up that money ahead of time so that taxpayers don't have to."
The bill cleared the Democratic-controlled House on a 35-29 party-line vote. It heads to the Senate, where the Republicans have the majority.
In an unrelated matter, the House gave final approval to a bill that would allow local governments to pass ordinances that let bicyclists run stop signs or traffic lights if conditions permit.
The measure, SB144, was partly sponsored by Rep. Yeulin Willett, R-Grand Junction, an avid bicyclist. The bill, which has already cleared the Senate, passed the House on a bipartisan 54-10 vote. Because of minor changes, it must return to the Senate for a final vote before it can go to the governor.
CoalZoom.com - Your Foremost Source for Coal News