The Office of Mountains, Deserts, and Plains Mission – What Fuels Our Work?

EPA’s 2020 launch of the Office of Mountains, Deserts, and Plains demonstrates how the Agency finds creative solutions to local problems while streamlining project and workflow management. This office centralizes Agency efforts to help ensure more efficient and effective mining site cleanups nationwide.

Our Current Focus 

When the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act (also sometimes referred to as the Good Sam Act) was signed into law on December 17, 2024, it offered a new opportunity for voluntary cleanups at abandoned hardrock mine sites. Through the Act, Congress authorized EPA to issue up to a total of 15 Good Samaritan cleanup permits over a timeframe of seven years. OMDP has been tasked with overseeing the successful authorization and implementation of those permits under a new pilot program. The pilot program is a top priority of the Agency and offers a new, unique opportunity to address the cleanup and restoration of legacy hardrock mine sites. 

For more information, visit: Good Samaritan Remediation Abandoned Hardrock Mines Program.

What We've Seen - Why It Matters

Prior to the 2024 Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act, projects at sites like the Orphan Boy Mine in Alma, Colorado, illustrated both the possibilities and the constraints of previous voluntary abandoned mine cleanups. 

At Orphan Boy Mine, water draining from a collapsed mine portal posed a threat to human health and the environment. The water flowed through a large waste rock pile, impacted by heavy metals such as cadmium, iron, and zinc, before discharging into two wetlands and ultimately, Mosquito Creek. Mosquito Creek is on Colorado’s List of Impaired Waters.¹

Trout Unlimited, a non-profit organization, gathered close to $310,000 in grants, in-kind donations, cash matches, and contributions from other funds to clean up the site and improve downstream water quality.² Trout Unlimited addressed the waste rock pile area by grading and adding soil amendments to neutralize the pH, and then capping the waste rock area by adding fresh soil, native plants and vegetation to reduce erosion. The resulting work diverted 775 feet of the mine drainage pathway around the waste rock area and included the construction of a low water crossing on the road between wetland areas.^3,4

These actions reduced environmental impacts by improving water quality downstream, restoring the wetlands and re-establishing native riparian vegetation.⁵

A Chance To Do More

A major challenge to the cleanup at Orphan Boy Mine, and many other similar sites, was the lack of liability protection under existing environmental regulations. Even well-intentioned volunteers may face legal liability and penalties if disturbing existing contamination. 

The Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2024 provides expanded protections via a permit review and approval process to non-liable parties that encourages volunteers to clean up abandoned hardrock mines. Good Samaritan volunteers are shielded from certain liability risks while voluntarily implementing cleanup activities within the terms of their approved permit, thus providing an additional level of certainty in project planning and reducing potential costs during cleanups. This can result in faster and more comprehensive cleanups.

OMDP anticipates that the Good Samaritan pilot program will demonstrate that volunteer resources can be leveraged to provide additional opportunities for cleanups at abandoned hardrock mines sites, thus saving taxpayer funds as a result of the new Act.

For more information, please visit: 

• Trout Unlimited's 2024 Work Plan--Orphan Boy Removal Action 
• EPA's On-Scene Coordinator Response Site Profile - Orphan Boy Mine