I am glad that the Subcommittee is holding this hearing.
Also, I appreciate the concerns that you have raised. The bill is not perfect. It can be improved. And I am committed to working with you and others to see if we can resolve concerns and achieve bipartisan consensus.
Because this is a very important bill.
Let me back up for a minute, and try to put things in context, with an example.
It's the Alta Mine, in Corbin, about 15 miles south of Helena.
The site was mined heavily from 1883 to 1886,then intermittently until the late 1950s, when it was abandoned.
There it sits. An open shaft collects groundwater, which then discharges heavy metals into the groundwater and surface water. There are elevated levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and other metals.
The pollution runs down Corbin Creek, then into Spring Creek, and then into Prickly Pear Creek. For at least 7 miles downstream, there's serious environmental harm.
I was there last year, with Vic Anderson, who runs Montana's abandoned mine cleanup program. The waters are discolored. In some places, there is a distinct sulfuric odor. The fishery is destroyed.
In the town of Corbin, which has 11 homes, Montana spent $300,000 to replace the drinking water supply.
Why isn't someone doing something about it?
In fact, Montana is doing a lot. Vic and his crew are removing structures, closing adits, and capping contaminated soil. They also would like to do something about the water. For example, they could construct wetlands, for filtration. They could use limestone to neutralize acid wastes.
The engineers say it will work.
But the lawyers say it won't. They say that, by diverting the water, the state would become liable under the Clean Water Act. It will have to get a permit. And the permit would require permanent treatment that is prohibitively expensive.
So, as we speak, the acid mine drainage continues to flow directly into the Prickly Pear.
This is not an isolated example.
There are more than 400,000 abandoned mines across the country. In Montana, there are 6,000. At least 245 are within 100 feet of a stream.
According to the Western Governors Association and others, the same thing that is happening at the Alta Mine is happening at other abandoned mine sites all across the west.
The bill that I, Senator Campbell, and others have introduced is designed to address the problem.
The title of this bill, the "Good Samaritan Mine Remediation Waste bill" tells a lot about the bill's objective.
In a nutshell, the bill will allow good samaritans to clean up an abandoned mines under a special permit, tailored to the conditions of the site. That way, it encourages them to undertake effective cleanups.
Under the bill, a state can apply for a good samaritan permit from EPA, by submitting a detailed plan describing how the state will improve water quality.
EPA reviews the plan and takes comments from the local community. EPA approves the application if the plan will improve water quality to the maximum extent practical, given the resources and cleanup technologies available to the Good Samaritan.
Once a permit is approved, the good samaritan can proceed with the cleanup.
That's the basic framework.
I'm sure that we'll get into the details during questions.
One final point. As I said, the bill can be improved. I'm sure that our witnesses will make good suggestions.
But let's not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Let's not insist that the bill address every single issue on our wish lists.
That's just a recipe for stalemate.
We can do better. Let's work together, with states, industry, and environmentalists, to solve a narrow but important problem. Thank you.