Good Samaritan Clean Watershed Act
Latest action · May 10, 2006 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMay 10, 2006
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Good Samaritan Clean Watershed Act - Authorizes the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or a state or Indian tribe with an approved remediation program to issue a permit to a Good Samaritan to remediate inactive or abandoned mines. Defines "Good Samaritan" as a person that: (1) did not cause the historic mine residue at the inactive or abandoned mines; (2) is not liable or responsible under federal, state, or tribal law for remediation of such residue; and (3) does not have an ownership interest in such site during or since the creation of the residue.
States that to be eligible for a remediation permit, projects: (1) shall have the purpose of mitigating the effects of historic mine residue to improve the environment; and (2) are not in mines that are included on the National Priorities List of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) or mines that are subject to enforcement or response actions.
Provides conditions for permit issuance, including environmental improvement and financial resources requirements and consideration of objections by land management agencies and public trustees.
Deems permit activities to be compliant with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act or CWA) and CERCLA. Precludes the imposition of costs or damages under CWA and CERCLA related to the permit activities, except where the permittee's actions exacerbate the pollution as a result of gross negligence or intentional misconduct.
Provides for the transfer, modification, or termination of permits and the role of the permitting authority.
Requires the permitting authority to provide notice of the application for remediation of a mine site to: (1) designated lead state or tribal agencies; (2) local governments within a 20-mile radius of the project site; (3) federal, state, and tribal agencies that may have an interest in the application; and (4) the public.
Authorizes the Administrator to enforce this Act and prescribes civil monetary penalties.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- May 10, 2006Introduced in Senate
- May 10, 2006Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 1848 | Cleanup of Inactive and Abandoned Mines Act | Related bill | Sep 27, 2006 |
| HR 5404 | Good Samaritan Clean Watershed Act | Identical bill | Jun 5, 2006 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Environmental Protection.
- Civil actions and liability
- Drainage
- Economics and Public Finance
- Environmental assessment
- Environmental law enforcement
- Environmental monitoring
- Environmental Protection
- Federal aid to water pollution control
- Fines (Penalties)
- Good samaritan laws
- Government Operations and Politics
- Hazardous wastes
- Indian lands
- Injunctions
- Judicial review
- Law
- Liability for environmental damages
- Licenses
- Mine wastes
- Mine water
- Minorities
- Public Lands and Natural Resources
- Public meetings
- Water pollution control
- Water quality
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 10, 2006Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.