Ruben Gallego Presses Witness On How To Protect Often ‘Scarce’ Water Resources During Mining Process

2 days ago

During a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) questioned witnesses about utilizing sustainable practices while mining.

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Transcript

00:00Senator Gallegos is next

00:06Thank You Chairman Lee and ranking member Heinrich and thank you to our witnesses for your attendance today

00:10I've been outspoken about the need to shore up our critical mineral supply chains for years

00:15Especially for our national security and just our energy future and Arizona certainly can be a leader in this space

00:20over 70% of the nation's copper comes from Arizona along with gold silver zinc and many others as

00:26We produce these minerals and metals advanced technology contribute to our economy and build infrastructure

00:32We can do so in a way that protects our natural resources, too

00:35So I'm glad to see multiple bipartisan bills that are critical

00:39Bills critical minerals in this hearing and look forward to continuing work on these issues. So my first question is for mr

00:45Wood you mentioned in your testimony that historic mining has threatened drinking water supplying quality in

00:51States like mine water is a very scarce resource that must be conserved and clean

00:56What other actions can the federal government take to protect and remediate our water in the context of mining and critical mineral supply chains?

01:05Thank you, sir for your question

01:07an important step was taken last year with the passage of the Good Samaritan legislation, which will

01:13You know allow for 12 pilot projects over the next seven years

01:16and and then we have every intent of coming back and trying to authorize that legislation to remove the liability hurdles that

01:23Organizations like mine or mining companies would face by trying to clean up those abandoned mines

01:28But the second is again, I mentioned this earlier, but the second point is paramount today. It's funding. There's just no funding for it

01:36There's no dedicated funding source. So even if you didn't have concerns about liability, you still have to go out and cobble together

01:45Hundreds of thousands occasionally millions of dollars to do these cleanup projects

01:51My next question is for mr. Haddock, please

01:53Expand how the critical minerals consistency act consistency act would decrease uncertainty about research and tax credits

02:01Especially those passed by Congress in the last years the last few years

02:07Center I'm sorry that last part about the the consistency would would affect

02:12Would decrease decrease uncertainty about research and tax credits, especially those passed by Congress in the last few years

02:19Well, I think I think the act

02:22Simply decreases the uncertainty in mine permitting and I don't think it really affects the the research and that end of things

02:32Mr. Wood back to your

02:36Back to my question earlier you said that

02:39Some of these cleanups can be hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars

02:43Is there any national estimate of how much of a cleanup on an annual basis?

02:48Budget, we need to actually be effectively cleaning up some of these sites on an on an annual basis

02:53It'd be nice if we had a billion dollars a year

02:57Be nice to a lot of us that yeah, you know a

03:01Lot of these projects to be clear

03:03They're they're minor construction sites and my engineers get mad at me whenever I say this

03:07But in many cases you're dealing with tailings and you you dig a ditch you line it with an impermeable barrier

03:13You bulldoze the tailings in there put another impermeable impermeable barrier

03:18Maybe you dig a French drain or around it and then you walk away

03:22So a lot of these aren't these aren't super fun sites that we're talking about. These are often low-tech

03:29construction projects

03:30they get more expensive that the reason I use the millions word was if you have to do something like build a

03:36Wastewater treatment plant that obviously will be more expensive than just doing a small construction project. Okay. Thank you. I go back

03:45So with respect to Senator Gallego's question the EPA estimates that the the total liability for these sites is about

03:5354 billion. So if we had a billion dollars a year, it would still take 54 years to get these sites cleaned up

Ruben Gallego Presses Witness On How To Protect Often ‘Scarce’ Water Resources During Mining Process

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