S2781-118

Passed Senate

To promote remediation of abandoned hardrock mines, and for other purposes.

118th Congress Introduced Sep 13, 2023

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

To promote remediation of abandoned hardrock mines, and for other purposes.. The local Codex analysis identifies the main policy area as Health, Energy, Environment, Finance and uses the stored bill text to provide context for clause-level classification.

Who Benefits and How

Program beneficiaries and regulated parties receiving clearer authority, Federal, state, local, or tribal implementers named in the bill may benefit where the bill creates funding, authority, exemptions, eligibility, or procedural clarity.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Agencies responsible for implementation and reporting, Regulated entities subject to new or modified requirements may bear new administrative, reporting, compliance, or implementation responsibilities.

Key Provisions

  • Establishes or modifies federal legal authority described in the bill text.
  • Directs agencies, regulated parties, or program participants to follow the updated statutory framework.
  • Provides bill-level context for downstream clause analysis.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

To promote remediation of abandoned hardrock mines, and for other purposes..

Key Policy Areas

Health, Energy, Environment, Finance

Primary Purpose

To promote remediation of abandoned hardrock mines, and for other purposes..

Policy Domains

Health Energy Environment Finance

Billwide scope

Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
  • Program beneficiaries and regulated parties receiving clearer authority
  • Federal, state, local, or tribal implementers named in the bill
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: enr

Contextual inference, no direct clause citation

Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
  • Agencies responsible for implementation and reporting
  • Regulated entities subject to new or modified requirements
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: enr

Contextual inference, no direct clause citation

Legislative Progress

Passed Senate
Introduced Committee Passed
Jan 25, 2024

Reported by Mr. Carper, with an amendment

Sep 13, 2023

Mr. Heinrich (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Crapo, …

Sep 13, 2023 (inferred)

Passed Senate (inferred from es version)

Sep 13, 2023

Mr. Heinrich (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Crapo, …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
21 mentions across 15 clauses
+10 positive -9 negative ?2 uncertain

EPA, Federal agencies and affected program participants, Federal government

EPA faces effects in multiple directions

Positive-direction: Federal agencies and affected program participants, Federal government, Federal land management agencies (BLM, Forest Service)

Negative-direction: Federal land management agencies

Environment
12 mentions across 12 clauses
+9 positive ?3 uncertain

Environmental nonprofits and watershed groups, Environmental remediation nonprofits, Good Samaritan permit holders

State & Local Government
6 mentions across 6 clauses
+3 positive ?3 uncertain

State and local governments, State environmental agencies

Mining
3 mentions across 3 clauses
-3 negative

Mining companies seeking to use program for new mining

General Public
3 mentions across 3 clauses
+3 positive

Communities near abandoned mines

Federal Land Management
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Public land managers and local heritage communities

6/12
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Health Energy Environment Finance
Actor Mappings
"the_secretary"
→ Secretary of Agriculture

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

11 terms
"Administrator" §definition_1

the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

"applicable water quality standards" §definition_2

the water quality standards promulgated by the Administrator or adopted by a State or Indian tribe and approved by the Administrator pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U

"baseline conditions" §definition_3

the concentrations, locations, and releases of any hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants, as described in the Good Samaritan permit, present at an abandoned hardrock mine site prior to undertaking any acti...

"cooperating person" §definition_4

any person that is named by the Good Samaritan in the permit application as a cooperating entity

"Federal land management agency" §definition_5

any Federal agency authorized by law or executive order to exercise jurisdiction, custody, or control over land owned by the United States

"Good Samaritan" §definition_6

a person that, with respect to historic mine residue, as determined by the Administrator— is not a past or current owner or operator of— the abandoned hardrock mine site at which the historic mine residue is located

"Good Samaritan permit" §definition_7

a permit granted by the Administrator under section 4(a)(1)

"historic mine residue" §definition_8

mine residue or any condition at an abandoned hardrock mine site resulting from hardrock mining activities

"investigative sampling permit" §definition_9

a permit granted by the Administrator under section 4(d)(1)

"person" §definition_10

any entity described in— section 502(5) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U

"responsible owner or operator" §definition_11

a person that is— legally responsible under section 301 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology