For Immediate Release Media Contact
Thursday, March 21, 2024 Kenna O’Neill
koneill@miningamerica.org
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representatives Celeste Maloy (R-UT) and Mary Peltola (D-AK) introduced the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. This commonsense legislation is a companion to S. 2781, which was approved by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works earlier this year, and like its Senate counterpart, is truly bipartisan.
“For more than two decades AEMA has been working on Good Samaritan legislation with industry allies and conservation groups, so we are thrilled by today’s monumental step and bipartisan effort to move the legislation forward,” said American Exploration & Mining Association Executive Director, Mark Compton. “The mining industry has the desire, the experience, the technology, the expertise and the capital to remediate and reclaim AMLs. Good Samaritan legislation makes sense and can be a win-win-win-win: for the environment, the Good Samaritan, the community, and for society. We applaud Representatives Maloy and Peltola for their leadership on this issue, and we’re also grateful for the strong bipartisan support demonstrated by the original cosponsors.”
The carefully crafted legislation would authorize a pilot project program that provides limited liability protections to interested parties that have no legal or financial responsibility for an abandoned mine but have the expertise, funding, and willingness to undertake remediation activities.
To learn more about the proposed legislation click here to view our one-page summary or email AEMA’s Government Affairs Manager, Sid Smith.