The thousands of abandoned or closed hard-rock mines contaminating water and soil beg for good-Samaritan liability protection for groups that tackle cleanup, U.S. Sen. Mark Udall told colleagues Tuesday.

“Hard-rock mine pollution is a terrible reminder of irresponsible mining in the West,” the Colorado Democrat said on the Senate floor. “Where good Samaritans are willing and able to responsibly clean up pollution, leaving our treasured landscapes and watersheds better than they were before, we should do everything we can to support them.”

Draining mines pollute drinking water and kill aquatic and plant life, he said.

Udall named the Red and Bonita mine near Silverton a major polluter. The mine releases some 300 gallons a minute of toxic drainage into Cement Creek, a tributary to the Animas River.

Udall wants protection for groups that didn’t create the pollution but are willing to do the remediation.

The distinction is vital, Dan Randolph, executive director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance, said Tuesday.

“Legislation has to be crafted to protect groups not responsible for the pollution but not allow existing companies to get away from their responsibility,” Randolph said.

The San Juan Citizens Alliance has supported good Samaritan legislation but only when it doesn’t allow parties responsible for contamination to get off the hook, Randolph said.

Bruce Stover, director of the inactive mine reclamation program in the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety, said the stumbling block for good Samaritan cleanups is the potential for lawsuits.

A quirk in the Clean Water Act requires 100 percent cleanup of a hazard, Stover said. Anything less opens the good Samaritan to a lawsuit, he said.

Only Congress, which authorized the Clean Water Act, can change the law, Stover said. Courts don’t have the power, he said.

A number of efforts such as Udall’s have been proposed in the past 25 years, Stover said. But they never pass muster with Congress.

Udall said the Government Accountability Office estimates there are 160,000 abandoned hard-rock mines in the West, including 7,300 in Colorado, 47,000 in California and 50,000 in Arizona.

Good Samaritans can’t clean up mine waste alone, Udall said. But those willing to help should be enlisted and not turned away.

Last week, Udall asked the Environmental Protection Agency in writing to assure good Samaritans some legal certainty. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., signed the letter.

In 2009, good Samaritan legislation introduced by Udall didn’t make it out of committee. Since then, the senator has worked with good Samaritan groups and EPA to find a way to reach his goals.

daler@durangoherald.com