Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today introduced legislation that would allow New Mexico to spend federal funds to clean up abandoned uranium mines.  U.S. Senator Tom Udall is a cosponsor.

Under the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program, the U.S. Department of the 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 (S. 897) 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.

"New Mexico has thousands of remaining mine openings, with a vast majority of these being non-coal.  Uranium mine reclamation is a particular priority in our state, but right now the state cannot tap into all of these federal funds to clean up abandoned uranium mines," Bingaman said.  "That doesn't make sense.  This legislation would make it possible for New Mexico to use its share to clean up uranium mines and other priority non-coal mine sites."

"Although many of these uranium mines were abandoned long ago, they continue to have a big impact on the environmental health of our state and the physical health of New Mexicans. It is only right that New Mexico be able to use its share of funds from this program to address priority areas, and I am pleased to join Senator Bingaman in support of this important bill," Udall said.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Bingaman chairs.