Tectonic Metals gets funding for gold exploration in Alaska
The company's Flat gold project is located 40 km north of the giant Donlin gold project.
Mining companies in the United States are being warned that their operations could be the target of increased scrutiny by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
During a recent conference call on the subject, environmental lawyer Sheila Jones said the EPA is looking to step up its information gathering, inspection and enforcement provisions, many of which relate to mining and mineral processing.
She said mining companies should be aware of the agency’s overarching goal in “working for environmental justice” when it comes to settlements.
“You should expect to be asked, if you’re engaging with the Department of Justice or EPA, from an environmental justice perspective, what you can do if there’s a population near your factory or where violations occurred?”
The EPA has been flexing its muscles since the Obama Administration took power in 2008. Last fall in West Virginia, the heart of coal-mining country, Governor Joe Manchin, a Democrat, took the agency to court.
The lawsuit filed by state’s Department of Environmental Protection accused the EPA of overstepping its authority and asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia to throw out the federal agency’s new guidelines for issuing Clean Water Act permits for coal mines, according to a report in The New York Times.
The suit relates to new guidelines issues by the EPA in April 2010 seeking Clean Water Act permits for proposed surface coal mines. Companies must show their projects do not cause pollution concentrations in surrounding rivers to exceed five times the normal level. While the EPA defended the regulation as protection against communities and water sources, Manchin argued it threatens “not only to end surface coal mining in West Virginia but to affect all forms of mining in the state.”
The National Mining Association also sued the EPA to avoid the rules.
Jones, a partner with the law firm Holland & Hart, says the EPA’s priorities, identified by Administrator Lisa Jackson at the beginning of her tenure, remain in place and have been expanded. These include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality, managing chemical risks, cleaning up hazardous waste sites and protecting America’s waters.
On the last provision, Jones said mining companies should be aware that the EPA is reclassifying some of the country’s major rivers; those that qualify as a navigational river would be accorded a higher status for regulation.
While this seems innocuous, Jones pointed out that the Los Angeles River, which runs 51 miles from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach Harbor, has been designated by the EPA a “navigable water” even though much of the riverbed lies under freeways. Reclassification of rivers also affects a river’s tributaries and wetlands.
“Even though there’s no mining, if you’re in that watershed you should take a look at where your stormwater goes, where you’re discharging,” says Jones, noting the reclassifications could force some companies to reassess their compliance status.
Mining companies operating in the U.S. should also be aware of proposed new rules regarding the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). An exemption for inorganic chemicals under the TSCA will end, meaning companies will have to submit use and processing information to the EPA. Also, the 300,000-pound threshold, which triggered the obligation to report, will be reduced to 25,000 pounds.
“That’s going to sweep into this reporting requirement many more facilities, I believe, and so does EPA,” Jones said.
Finally, the EPA will be also cracking down on mercury emissions into the air and water — which is of particular interest to gold ore processing facilities.
The EPA’s National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) establishes a maximum achievable control technology (MACT) for mercury, which has been identified by the U.S. Congress as a hazardous air pollutant.
Jones said miners should expect the EPA to view mercury discharges, along with other hazardous pollutants that persist in the environment, with greater scrutiny.
“That seems to be a focus of this Administration, to be more aggressive in its enforcement activity, whether it’s enforcement or rulemaking.”
As an example, Jones noted the EPA has initiated several inspections of gold mines in Nevada, including two onsite inspections and four desktop inspections, and has indicated another five are likely to be conducted this year.
She advised mining companies to look at their internal compliance procedures to ensure they’re up to date.
“You may want to ramp up or increase frequency your internal compliance auditing,” she said. “You want to make sure people are doing a really good job because you don’t want any surprises.”
