Legacy Mine Cleanup Act of 2025
The Legacy Mine Cleanup Act of 2025 would create a new Office of Mountains, Deserts, and Plains inside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to oversee cleanup actions at “covered mine sites”—lands affected by past hardrock mining and nearby water resources, including sites on Indian lands. The Office would coordinate cleanup work with EPA headquarters and regional offices, other federal agencies, states, tribes, and stakeholders; develop and disseminate best practices; promote voluntary cleanup actions and opportunities for small businesses; and ensure interagency coordination for sites with no potentially responsible party. The bill also requires an interagency 10-year plan for Navajo Nation abandoned uranium mine sites and lays out routines for identifying priority sites, reporting to Congress, and providing technical assistance. Importantly, the act states that it does not create new regulatory authority or automatically impose a default cleanup standard. In short, the bill reorganizes how the EPA approaches legacy mining contamination—emphasizing coordination, best practices, tribal engagement, and interagency planning—without expanding regulatory powers on its face. A significant feature is the Navajo Nation uranium plan, which would spur a long-term, multi-agency effort with concrete goals and funding considerations, subject to appropriations.
Key Points
- 1Establishment of the Office of Mountains, Deserts, and Plains within the EPA, headed by a Director chosen by the Administrator, to manage cleanup actions at covered mine sites.
- 2Purposes include:
- 3- Coordinating cleanup actions among EPA components, regional offices, and stakeholders (including tribal governments) under existing federal authorities.
- 4- Developing and sharing best practices, innovative cleanup technologies, and reuse options; identifying waste storage and disposal solutions.
- 5- Coordinating voluntary cleanup actions and facilitating timely guidance for nonliable parties.
- 6- Promoting contracting opportunities for small businesses in cleanup efforts, within existing federal procurement authorities.
- 7- Interagency coordination with other federal agencies to streamline actions, prioritizing sites with no potentially responsible party.
- 8- Supporting actions to investigate, characterize, or clean up discharges or threats from covered mine sites, and promoting reuse where appropriate.
- 9Duties include:
- 10- Priority Mine List: Annually identify and publish a list of covered mine sites to prioritize for cleanup, with an accompanying report describing methodology and cleanup status; update the list regularly with input from regional offices and stakeholders.
- 11- Process Improvement: Develop best practices for site assessments and feasibility studies, promote research on effective cleanup technologies, and support tribal government consultations related to cleanup actions.
- 12- Tribal Consultation: Enhance government-to-government consultation with tribes, invite potentially responsible parties when appropriate, and engage Alaska Native Corporations and tribal allottees as applicable.
- 13- Navajo Nation Interagency Plan: Produce a 10-year interagency plan (with goals, target dates, funding needs, and agency roles) for Navajo Nation abandoned uranium mine sites, with a plan due by 2028 and periodic updates; require a report to Congress describing the plan within 90 days of its development.
- 14- Administrative and Technical Assistance: Provide technical help to states, local governments, tribes, and other entities undertaking cleanup actions.
- 15Savings provisions: The bill does not grant new regulatory authority or set default cleanup standards; the Office operates within existing authorities and does not redefine cleanup actions.