Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today announced that legislation he introduced to allow New Mexico to spend federal funds to cleanup abandoned uranium mines has passed the Senate. The bill now has to be passed by the House of Representatives before the president can sign it into law.

Under the existing Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program, the U.S. Department of Interior is authorized to collect revenue from coal companies for a fund that cleans up abandoned mines.  Each state receives a share of the AML fund, but the Interior Department currently restricts the ability of states to use some of that funding to clean up non-coal mines.  As a result, New Mexico has not been able to focus the funding on one of its priorities – to clean up uranium mines.

Bingaman's legislation, which is cosponsored by U.S. Senator Tom Udall, makes clear that those funds can be used for non-coal cleanup, paving the way for New Mexico to tap into its $21 million over the next few years to clean up abandoned uranium mines.

"Cleaning up abandoned mine lands is an important environmental issue and also a public health concern.  This bill would help New Mexico move forward with clean-up of non-coal abandoned mines," said Bingaman.

"This legislation is critical for the long-term health of New Mexico. Abandoned uranium mines continue to negatively impact the environmental health of the state and the physical health of its people.  Now that the Senate has overwhelmingly passed this bill, it's time for the House to do the same and ensure that New Mexico be able to use its fair share of the funds to address priority areas throughout our state," Udall said.