Obtaining Public Liability for Mining Waste Cleanup

A case study by Earthjustice regarding a United States District Court ruling that required the EPA to establish financial assurance regulations for mining companies to prevent taxpayers from bearing the cost of environmental cleanup.

• The absence of financial assurance regulations has allowed mining operators to abandon sites contaminated with toxins such as lead, arsenic, mercury, and cyanide, often using bankruptcy to avoid cleanup costs and shifting the financial burden to taxpayers.
• Under Superfund legislation from 1980, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was expected to create regulations requiring high-risk polluting industries, including mining, to provide financial proof of their ability to fund the cleanup of toxic spills and contamination.
• In February 2009, a United States District Court ordered the EPA to implement these regulations for mining companies by May 4, 2009, to reduce public liability for environmental damage caused by poor corporate practices.

APA

Earthjustice (2008). Obtaining Public Liability for Mining Waste Cleanup. https://earthjustice.org/case/public-liability-for-mining-waste-clean-up

Chicago

Earthjustice. Obtaining Public Liability for Mining Waste Cleanup. 2008. https://earthjustice.org/case/public-liability-for-mining-waste-clean-up.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Earthjustice |title=Obtaining Public Liability for Mining Waste Cleanup |date=12 March 2008 |url=https://earthjustice.org/case/public-liability-for-mining-waste-clean-up |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{earthjustice2008obtaining, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Obtaining Public Liability for Mining Waste Cleanup}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {2008}, month = mar, url = {https://earthjustice.org/case/public-liability-for-mining-waste-clean-up}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }