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Conservationists Sue to Make Defunct Miners Pay for Cleanups

Posted November 9th, 2007 by Anonymous

WASHINGTON, DC (ENS) - Conservation groups have filed a 60 day notice of their intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, for failure to establish financial assurance regulations for facilities that handle hazardous substances.

Annoucing the legal action on Nov. 6, the groups said they want to make it harder for mining and other polluting industries to skip out on cleanups by declaring bankruptcy, leaving American taxpayers to pay for restoration.

The public interest law firm Earthjustice is representing the Sierra Club, Amigos Bravos of Taos, New Mexico; Great Basin Mine Watch of Reno, Nevada; and the Idaho Conservation League in this legal action.

"The worst offenders declare bankruptcy, opting to clear their plate of financial obligations and skip town," said Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans. "Residents are left with poisoned soil and water; taxpayers are stuck with a hefty cleanup bill."

In 1980, Congress established the Superfund Trust Fund to clean up hazardous sites when the liable party cannot be identified or is unable to pay. The Superfund Trust was funded by excise taxes on crude oil and chemicals and by a corporate environmental income tax. These taxes, however, expired in 1995, and Superfund's $3.8 billion surplus has now been spent.

When the Superfund law was passed, lawmakers gave EPA five years to put financial assurance regulations in place. More than 20 years later, the EPA has done "next to nothing," says Evans.

The groups' notice of intent to file suit states that, "...no EPA Administrator has identified classes of facilities that pose risks of creating environmental liabilities, published notice of their identification in the Federal Register, or promulgated any regulations that require facilities handling hazardous substances to establish and maintain evidence of financial responsibility for cleanup."

Last week, the House of Representatives approved the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation bill, which requires mine operators to post a bond to cover future cleanup costs before receiving a permit to mine on public lands.

The conservation groups are seeking to ensure that mines on private lands also are subject to federal bonding requirements.

The EPA ranks the mining industry as the nation's top toxic polluter, releasing cyanide, lead, arsenic, and mercury.

"The mining industry generates more than two billion pounds of toxic waste each year, and has polluted more than 40 percent of western watershed headwaters," Evans says

In 2004, the EPA reported that 63 hardrock mining sites were listed as Superfund sites, with an estimated cleanup cost of $7.8 billion. Of that, $2.4 billion was expected to come from taxpayers.

Evans points to Asarco, which declared bankruptcy in 2005, as "the most far-reaching example of irresponsible mining operations." The century-old mining and smelting company left 94 Superfund sites in 21 states, with a total cleanup cost estimated at more than $1 billion, outpacing the $100 million trust the company set aside for cleanup.

In Idaho, Asarco is among mining companies responsible for contamination across the 1,500 square mile Coeur d'Alene River basin. The EPA has estimated the cost of the first 30 years of cleanup work at $359 million.

John Robison, public lands director of the Idaho Conservation League, said, "Both phosphate and hardrock mines have contaminated Idaho streams with toxic mine waste and left taxpayers footing the bill. Properly bonding mining operations will help keep mine waste from polluting our streams and rivers."

The New Mexico group Amigos Bravos has long called for Molycorp to take responsibility for the toxics it released during 40 years of operating the Molycorp/Chevron Mining molybdenum mine near Questa, contaminating the Red River and nearby aquifers.

In 2002, the company agreed to set aside $152 million for cleanup, but total costs could reach $400 million.

"If companies aren't on the line to clean up after themselves, there's no incentive for them to improve their waste management practices," said Amigos Bravos Executive Director Brian Shields.

In Nevada, 27 mining companies had declared bankruptcy as of July 2000.

"We're still grappling with the legacy of bankruptcies from the 1990s," said Dan Randolph, executive director of Great Basin Mine Watch. "Given the frantic pace of mining today, if we had another rash of bankruptcies, the cleanup costs would be massive, not to mention the scale of environmental devastation."

In Illinois, communities face potential water contamination from industrial waste dumped in surface coal mines.

"Peabody Coal plans to dump 60 million tons of coal combustion waste in a coal mine near farms and homes," said Kathy Andria, waste and recycling chair of the Illinois chapter of Sierra Club. "It is critical that the money be available for cleanup if this toxic waste pollutes our water. Current coal mining bonds are inadequate to pay for cleanup."