Heinrich Celebrates First-Ever Permit Issued Under His Good Samaritan Mine Cleanup Law

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today celebrated the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) issuance of the first-ever permit under the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Pilot Program - established by legislation he authored and championed alongside U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) to remove a longstanding legal barrier to cleaning up abandoned mines. The House companion legislation was led by U.S. Representatives Celeste Maloy (R-Utah), Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), and Susie Lee (D-Nev.).

The permit authorizes Trout Unlimited to move forward with the Bodie Mine Project in Okanogan County, Washington, marking the first time a Good Samaritan has received federal authorization under the pilot program created by Heinrich's bipartisan Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act, which was signed into law in December 2024.

For decades, nonprofits, state and local governments, and other groups willing to clean up abandoned hardrock mines faced a major obstacle: under existing environmental liability laws, organizations could potentially become legally liable for pollution they did not create simply by attempting to remediate it. Heinrich's legislation created a new permitting pathway that provides eligible Good Samaritans with protections from certain liability risks while they carry out approved cleanup projects.

"This is a landmark moment - and proof that our Good Samaritan law is working. After more than 25 years of hard work to break down the legal barriers standing in the way of abandoned mine cleanup, we are finally seeing volunteers get to work restoring polluted lands and waters without taking on liability for contamination they didn't cause," said Heinrich. "The first Good Samaritan permit has now been issued, and this is just the beginning. We can now use this new tool to clean up more abandoned mines, improve water quality, and make communities across New Mexico and the West safer and healthier."

The Bodie Mine Project will address legacy mine contamination along approximately 400 feet of Toroda Creek. Under the permit, Trout Unlimited will excavate and remove up to 790 tons of contaminated soil and sediment, reconstruct and stabilize the streambank, and restore native vegetation. The project is expected to prevent approximately 104 tons of contaminated tailings from eroding into Toroda Creek each year. Just last week, Heinrich, Risch, Maloy, and Lee sent a bipartisan letter to EPA supporting the Bodie Mine Project and urging the agency to move forward with implementation of the new pilot program.

"This law simply does not happen without the bipartisan work of Senators Heinrich and Risch. Senator Heinrich, in particular, was a force of nature in his advocacy and effectiveness. Anyone who cares about clean water owes him a debt of gratitude," said Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited.

The project demonstrates exactly the kind of collaborative conservation effort Heinrich's legislation was designed to enable: a non-liable conservation organization to address pollution left behind by historic mining. As required by the law, the EPA completed an environmental assessment for the Bodie Mine Project.

Heinrich first introduced the Good Samaritan legislation with Risch in 2022 after years of bipartisan efforts to address the liability barriers preventing voluntary abandoned mine cleanups. The legislation passed the Senate unanimously before passing the House and being signed into law on December 17, 2024.

In 2021, Heinrich championed a provision in the Infrastructure Law to establish the first-ever abandoned hardrock mine reclamation program in the Department of the Interior. With the passage of the Good Samaritan legislation, public-private partnerships can use this program to jumpstart abandoned mine cleanups.

The United States has hundreds of thousands of abandoned hardrock mine features, with at least 33,000 posing environmental hazards, according to the Government Accountability Office. Heinrich's law established a pilot permitting program specifically designed to help lower-risk projects move forward while maintaining federal oversight.

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