On January 11, EPA proposed Superfund financial assurance
regulations for the hardrock mining industry. The proposal
requires owners and operators of certain types of hardrock mines
and mineral processing facilities to give financial assurances of
their ability to pay for potential releases of hazardous substances
from their facilities, including Superfund cleanup costs, health
assessment costs and natural resource damages (NRD).
This is the first rule promulgated by EPA under section 108(b)
of CERCLA, which requires EPA to issue financial assurance rules
for certain classes of facilities. In 2009, EPA released a notice
identifying the hardrock mining sector as the first sector for
which it would issue such rules. EPA promulgated the proposal
after being sued by environmentalists for taking no action
following the 2009 notice.
