Lawmakers at the federal level may not be much help, but the EPA and Colorado officials are working well together to fix the century-old mining mess above Silverton that continues to leak waste water into local streams, according to the town administrator.

“That [Aug. 5] accident is going to allow this problem to be properly addressed,” Silverton administrator Bill Gardner told The Colorado Statesman this week. “I think we can be grateful for that. Again, it’s awful that it had to happen, but the good news is we’re not allowing that to hinder us from taking ownership of this legacy mine problem and resolving it.”

Eight months after EPA contractors accidentally released 3 million gallons of acid mine drainage into a tributary of the Animas River that turned it a bright orange, the federal agency on Wednesday announced it will propose adding the Bonita Peak Mining District to the National Priorities List, making it eligible for resources under EPA’s Superfund program.

The Superfund listing, which could be finalized and published on the Federal Register as soon as this summer, is proceeding quite rapidly and marks a major reversal for Silverton and the surrounding San Juan County community, which for years had resisted the listing. But in February, local officials voted to pursue the listing and Gov. John Hickenlooper backed them.

“This is a crucial next step in making the region eligible for necessary resources and comprehensive cleanup efforts under EPA’s Superfund program, but our work is not done,” Hickenlooper said of Wednesday’s decision. “We are working with the EPA to ensure that adequate funding for this site is provided, including immediate interim measures and options to mitigate any further water-quality deterioration.”

The EPA has been operating a temporary wastewater treatment facility above Silverton since last fall at an estimated cost of $16,000 a week. Before and after the Aug. 5 release of 3 million gallons of wastewater from the mine, Gold King has been producing 500 to 770 gallons of wastewater per minute, or more than 720,000 gallons a day.

Gardner was part of a negotiating team that included his administrator counterpart at San Juan County, both the town and county attorneys, a town council member and a county commissioner. He said they worked hard with officials from both the EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment over the last several months.

“As much as is humanly and politically possible, this is going to be a positive,” Gardner said of the listing. “First of all the naming [of the Bonita Peak Mining District] – making sure it had absolutely nothing to do with Silverton and San Juan County – that’s an important victory.”

Much of the resistance to listing the last couple of decades came from businesses leaders and residents concerned about stigmatizing the tourism-dependent region. Local officials also fought to make the listing geographically specific so it would not include the entire northern half of San Juan County.

“The other step forward is that we’re working cooperatively with the EPA and we’re not going to be getting headlines that we’re fighting or that we’re doing anything to obstruct what really needs to be done,” Gardner added. “And the biggest thing we accomplished is we feel confident that we have a seat at the table, that we have a voice and that the EPA and the CDPHE will work with us before they make their decisions.”

At the national level, Congress remains gridlocked on a decades-long push to absolve nonprofit groups, local governments and modern mining companies of some degree of legal liability in order for them to clean up leaky abandoned mines all over the West under what’s been dubbed “Good Samaritan” legislation.

“We continue to support efforts by our congressional delegation to reach consensus around ‘Good Samaritan’ legislation, which is one of the most significant tools at our disposal to allow for voluntary cleanups of draining and abandoned mines,” Hickenlooper said.

U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet, along with U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, have been pushing bipartisan Good Samaritan legislation with the support of state lawmakers who late last month passed a bipartisan joint memorial:

“We, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, urge Congress to pass legislation establishing a Good Samaritan exemption from liability under the CWA [Clean Water Act] and CERCLA [Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act] as an important step toward preventing another disaster like the Gold King Mine spill and remediating all other draining abandoned hard rock mines in Colorado,” the memorial reads.

The Colorado Division of Mining Reclamation and Safety estimates there are more than 22,000 abandoned mines in Colorado, and that at least 500 are polluting streams. EPA official say it would cost $35 billion to clean up the estimated 500,000 abandoned hard rock mines across the United States.

“For public safety reasons, as well as environmental quality reasons, we really need to get a handle on how many abandoned mines we have, what are the actions we’re going to take, and we have to prioritize that very lengthy list,” said state Sen. Ellen Roberts, a Republican who represents Durango and the surrounding area. Roberts sponsored the Good Samaritan resolution.

“For us, the Gold King Mine, it was just a matter of time,” Roberts added. “It wasn’t whether it would happen; it was when it would happen – whether it was specifically that mine or another Silverton-area mine.”

Roberts this session also successfully sponsored SB63, a state law already signed by Hickenlooper that’s designed to make it easier for local governments to work across borders in emergency situations. In other words, downstream communities in New Mexico or Utah.

“We found with the mine spill obviously that contaminated rivers don’t necessarily follow state boundaries, so we need quicker response times, whether its wildfires, contaminated rivers or other emergency management,” Roberts said.

Silverton administrator Gardner appreciates the efforts of state lawmakers, but he said what really works is for local communities to engage federal and state government officials, and he reserved high praise for Hickenlooper’s efforts. As for the U.S. Congress, he’s not holding his breath.

“They’re still working on [Good Samaritan], and from my seat here in Silverton it just appears that Congress is really unable to work on solutions to problems like this, and so from what we can tell there’s nothing that’s really hopeful that’s going to be forthcoming,” Gardner said.

— davido@realvail.com