The legislation introduced by Colorado Sen. The firm earned $34.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.87 million.
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The mine had been leaking into the river for decades.
Money would be distributed to federal, state and tribal agencies for cleanup projects but remain distinct from the Superfund program, which pays to remediate a range of toxic waste sites including mines.
The Gold King Mine accident spilled 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater into the Animas and San Juan rivers.
Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, and Rep. Ben Ray Luján, all Democrats, announced their legislation on the three-month anniversary of the Gold King Mine blowout.
Bennet said the mining activities under the 1872 law have left the West with scars. But the legacy of that approach is that Colorado alone now has at least 7,100 abandoned mines with more than 200 known to be leaking.
“The Gold King Mine is part of a much larger problem”, Udall said. “Our bill would help clean them up…. We have a long way to go and this bill will help”.
The bill would also set a separate fee of 0.6 to 2 percent to pay for an abandoned mine cleanup.
The proposed legislation would implement a royalty fee on new mines and would be based on the gross income of production.
“The outdated laws that have been on the books for more than a century have left the American people to bear the brunt for the cost of addressing the damage that has been done to our land and water”, Luján said. “This is something we need to get started on right away”.
A summary of the legislation can be found HERE. Those permits would be valid for 30 years. States and tribes would be able to petition the Interior Secretary to declare lands off limits for mining. There are up to 500,000 abandoned mines across the West, and cleanup is estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars.
“In the Southwest, water is simply our most precious resource, so you can imagine what kind of impact the Gold King Mine spill had on our community”, Heinrich said.
Udall has pushed for reforming federal mining laws since his time in the U.S. House.
“Mining companies have enjoyed a sweetheart deal for far too long”, Udall said.
Current mining law dates back to 1872 and allows companies to take gold, silver, copper, uranium and other minerals from public land without paying any royalties. Gold and silver on public lands are a natural resource, just like oil and gas.
Udall said he and other co-sponsors of the bill aren’t opposed to so-called “Good Samaritan” provisions, but that broader reform and royalty revenue is needed for the cleanup of existing mines.
Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association – the industry trade group – said the bill “would end hard rock mining in this country by ensuring it would be uncompetitive”.
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“If the royalty is assessed improperly, or it is so high as to be punitive, we would not support that”, he said.
