EPA Wasn’t Required to Issue Hardrock Mining Rule: D.C. Cir. (2)

The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to abandon financial responsibility requirements for the hardrock mining industry will stand, the D.C. Circuit ruled July 19.

The EPA proposed the rule for financial assurance against environmental mining disasters in January 2017, but the Trump administration withdrew it in February 2018.

The Idaho Conservation League, Earthworks, Sierra Club, Amigos Bravos, Great Basin Resource Watch, and Communities for a Better Environment argued that the EPA decision violates the Superfund law.

In its decision not to regulate, the EPA ignored “significant” contamination risks mines pose, Amanda Goodin, staff attorney for Earthjustice, argued on behalf of the ...