Legacy Mine Cleanup Act of 2025
The Legacy Mine Cleanup Act of 2025 would create a new Office of Mountains, Deserts, and Plains within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), charged with coordinating and advancing cleanup actions at covered hardrock mine sites. The office would work across EPA headquarters, regional offices, and other federal, tribal, state, and non-governmental partners to implement cleanup actions using existing authorities (like CERCLA, SWDA, the Clean Water Act, and related statutes). It would establish annual priority lists of covered mine sites, develop best practices and innovative cleanup technologies, encourage early nonliable-party cleanup actions, and promote small-business contracting. A key feature is a dedicated interagency plan for Navajo Nation abandoned uranium mines, with 10-year goals, timelines, and funding projections, updated periodically. The bill emphasizes coordination with Indian Tribes and Alaska Native entities, and it clarifies that the act does not create new regulatory powers or default cleanup standards.
Key Points
- 1Establishment of the Office of Mountains, Deserts, and Plains within the EPA to coordinate cleanup actions at covered mine sites, including sites in Indian country, using existing authorities.
- 2Annual priority mine list: EPA must identify and report on prioritized covered mine sites for cleanup, including describing the methodology and the status of cleanup actions to Congress.
- 3Best practices and innovation: The Office will identify and disseminate best practices for site assessments, remediation, and feasibility studies, and promote innovative cleanup technologies and reuse options.
- 4Tribal and interagency engagement: Strengthened coordination with Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and other stakeholders; support for government-to-government tribal consultations; and coordination with other federal agencies (Interior, Energy, Health and Human Services, NRC, IHS, ATSDR) on cleanup actions.
- 5Navajo Nation uranium cleanup plan: A 10-year interagency plan (with goals, target dates, funding projections, and agency responsibilities) for Navajo Nation abandoned uranium mine sites, updated at least every 10 years, with a Congress report within 90 days of plan development.
- 6Administrative and technical assistance: EPA will provide technical assistance to states, local governments, tribes, and other entities for cleanup actions.
- 7Savings provision: The act does not grant new regulatory authority or establish default cleanup standards beyond existing law.