It doesn’t take much for a century-old mine shaft to cave in around you. Or for the mercury, lead or arsenic leftovers to leech into the Silver State’s already strained groundwater supply.
That’s why, for 25 years, environmental nonprofits have lobbied Congress to pass a “Good Samaritan” bill, allowing them to step in — and without tall fines that would have been levied to the original polluters. It enjoyed bipartisan support and earned the endorsement of Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.
Those efforts finally worked when then-President Joe Biden signed a bill into law last year, creating a pilot program within the Environmental Protection Agency. Now, over seven years, state agencies and nonprofits will work together to identify 15 abandoned mines and fully clean them up.
“Mining leaves a bad legacy behind at times,” said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., a co-sponsor of the bill. “They’re not just old relics after being abandoned by mining companies. Many of these sites are poisoning our waters, threatening tribal lands, and their hazardous landscapes have injured and even killed people.”
Since 1961, as far back as state records go, 19 people have died in abandoned mines, and more have been injured.
On Friday, Lee, along with the Nevada Division of Minerals and the nonprofit Trout Unlimited, celebrated the law’s signing at the Arden Gyspum Mine, one of the state’s estimated 300,000 abandoned mine sites that was plugged in 2018.
Will the pilot program include Nevada?
Nevada, with the most abandoned mines of any state in the nation, is likely to benefit from at least a few of the 15 proposed clean-ups, said Rob Ghiglieri, administrator of the state Division of Minerals.
Though he wouldn’t say which ones may be at the top of the priority list, Ghiglieri said his office is meeting with EPA staff next week to discuss some potential projects that should be included in the pilot program.
While the state has done what it can to fund clean-ups alone, Ghiglieri said eliminating the challenge of legal liability is a priority. As it stands, when nonprofits assume responsibility for a clean-up, they can be fined for not meeting federal water or air quality standards — even if the site is much less hazardous than it had been.
“Upon proving the vitalness of the program, our hope is that it will ultimately lead to a permanent, nationwide Good Samaritan program,” Ghiglieri said.
At the Arden Gyspum Mine, where shafts were plugged and are today inaccessible, Ghiglieri said state officials envision much safer, more developed hiking and recreational trails.
Going forward, funding these projects remains an issue. If Nevada were able to clean up every hazardous mine site that has proven to be an issue, costs could total $3 billion, Ghiglieri said.
Corey Fisher, Trout Unlimited’s public lands policy director, said his organization has a vested interest throughout the West in cleaning up waterways to have healthier fish habitat. Nonprofits like Fisher’s remain committed to petitioning Congress for a permanent Good Samaritan program when the time comes, he said.
“It’s a big problem, and it sounds scary,” Fisher said. “But it is a solvable problem.”
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
