Inhofe Eyes Renewed Push For 'Good Samaritan' Bill After EPA Mine Spill

摘要

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the environment committee, plans to renew efforts to move long-stalled legislation that would provide environmental liability relief for so-called Good Samaritans who conduct cleanups of abandoned hardrock mines, spurred in part by EPA's Aug. 5 accidental spill of wastewater containing heavy metals from an abandoned Colorado mine. Democrats, however, appear to be split on whether to back such an effort. Inhofe during a Sept. 16 Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) hearing on the Gold King Mine spill in Colorado called for reigniting the effort to pass Good Samaritan legislation. He noted that a bipartisan bill passed out of the committee during his previous chairmanship in 2006, but he added that in the years since, such legislation had "received very little attention from Congress or this committee." But, Inhofe said, he now plans to work with fellow senators in Colorado and New Mexico who are promoting Good Samaritan legislation. "I think we will, this time, do what should have been done 10 years ago," he said.