H-2074.1 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1706
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State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1993 Regular Session
By House Committee on Natural Resources & Parks (originally sponsored by Representatives Dunshee, Wolfe, Rust, Valle, Pruitt, Linville and Jacobsen)
Read first time 03/03/93.
AN ACT Relating to metals mining; and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that:
(1) State and federal laws governing surface mining are antiquated and do not provide adequate regulatory safeguards for modern metals mining processes such as the open-pit chemical leach process.
(2) Recent experience in several other western states has shown that underregulated chemical leach mining operations can result in large-scale environmental problems including the permanent scarring of large areas of land and the permanent poisoning of ground and surface water. Federal, state, and local governments, as well as the mining industry, face enormous costs in attempting to reclaim land and clean up hazardous wastes associated with the process.
(3) The mining industry has shown an increasing interest to begin opening large-scale chemical leach mines in Washington to exploit low-grade deposits of gold and other valuable minerals in the state.
The legislature declares that a specific state policy to regulate the open-pit chemical leach mining process should be established to protect the environment, health, and economic well-being of the people of the state.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A task force on chemical leach mining is established to develop recommended legislation to better regulate the development, operation, and reclamation of open-pit chemical leach mines in Washington. In developing the recommended legislation, the task force shall address, at a minimum, the following issues:
(1) Establishing a specific state policy on regulating open-pit chemical leach mines, including the identification of a lead state regulatory agency;
(2) Identifying funding sources to support regulation, monitoring, and enforcement, including potential processing fees and royalty payments;
(3) Establishing procedures for the concurrent reclamation of mine sites;
(4) Establishing bond requirements sufficient to cover the potential costs of large-scale cleanups;
(5) Establishing minimum standards for the containment and detoxification of mine and mill wastes;
(6) Establishing civil and criminal penalties sufficient to provide a strong deterrent to potential violators and to encourage the timely correction of instances of noncompliance;
(7) Establishing permitting requirements that prevent mine operators who are currently in violation of or out of compliance with other state or federal mining laws from operating in Washington.
The task force shall consist of fourteen members. Two members of the house of representatives shall be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and two members of the senate shall be appointed by the president of the senate. The governor shall appoint the remaining ten members as follows: The commissioner of public lands and the director of the department of ecology, or their designees; two representatives of the mining industry and two representatives of environmental organizations; four representatives of the general public, two residing west of the Cascade mountains and two residing east of the mountains.
The task force shall submit recommended legislation to the governor and to the appropriate committees of the legislature no later than January 1, 1994.
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