Nevada Appeal Capitol Bureau
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
The Interior Department says there is more than $700 million in the federal infrastructure law to clean up abandoned mines and close open mine shafts in 22 states and the Navajo Nation.
Most of the abandoned mines are in the West and Southwest.
The Interior announcement follows last week’s announcement of more than $1 billion to cap abandoned oil and gas wells across the country.
Jennifer Rokala of the Center for Western Priorities described the problem as the result of a century of irresponsible mining and drilling.
State officials have long said a large number of those mines are in Nevada but complained that getting money to close them and make them safe has been a huge problem.
Rokala said the cleanup is long overdue and the infrastructure money is a major investment.
“At the same time, the cleanup money does nothing to address the underlying problem that created these messes in the first place,” she said.
She said Congress and the Biden administration must reform the century-old Mineral Leasing Act of 1921 and the 1872 Mining Law. Without those reforms, she said oil and gas companies and miners including foreign miners don’t have to pose bonds sufficient to cover the cost of cleaning up the mine sites.
