Communities like Summit County which have been hard-hit by environmental degradation from abandoned mines advocated for reform of the Clean Water Act during the National Summit of Mining Communities Tuesday in Leadville. The bedrock federal law makes it tough for volunteers to tackle remediation at many polluted mine sites without taking on crippling liability, said Bill Simon, coordinator for the Animas River Stakeholder Group. Stringent provisions in the Clean Water Act can pin perpetual liability on any group that fiddles with tainted water seeping from old mine workings, Simon explained.

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