BOISE, Idaho—Hardrock mining companies could face new federal rules to set aside money to clean up pollution.
Earlier this year, a federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to address the issue after groups including the Sierra Club and Idaho Conservation League sued in U.S. District Court.
They contended the EPA’s failure to develop financial assurance requirements in accordance with three-decade-old provisions of the Superfund cleanup law was exposing the environment to “unremediated releases of hazardous substances.”
The groups praised EPA’s announcement Monday that it planned to propose new rules by 2011, calling this “a first step in closing a loophole in hazardous waste laws.”
Mining companies could fight EPA efforts, however, on grounds such requirements will dent profits and because they already fall under other state and federal cleanup requirements.
