EPA Approves First Good Samaritan Abandoned Mine Cleanup Permit
General location of the Bodie Mine in Okanagan County, Washington State
On July 11, 2026, Trout Unlimited applied to the Environmental Protection Agency for a Good Samaritan remediation permit to clean up the abandoned Bodie Mine. This remediation would be the first of up to fifteen cleanups completed under the pilot program established by the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2024. Bodie Mine is an abandoned site on entirely private property located in Okanogan County, Washington. On July 17, EPA posted a notice for comment with a deadline of August 17. After considering these comments, the Agency granted the permit on September 8. EPA determined that the application was complete and meets all applicable requirements of the Act, such as that the site and parties are eligible for a Good Samaritan permit, the activities are low risk, and the activities will result in measurable progress towards achieving improved environmental conditions compared to baseline conditions at the site. The project will be completed in the coming months.
The Bodie Mine Good Samaritan permitted activities include the removal of 790 tons of continually eroding tailings and waste rock material to improve soil quality, preventing degradation of water quality in an adjacent stream, Toroda Creek. Toroda Creek is a small tributary stream to the Kettle River, which eventually joins the Columbia River. By halting the active erosion of mine tailings into Toroda Creek along the proposed project reach, this project will minimize pollution from added siltation as well as toxics including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium, copper, and zinc currently found in the tailings on the site. The main actions of the project include excavation of historic mine tailings, streambank stabilization, and revegetation of disturbed areas. Most notably, the elevated levels of mercury and arsenic levels in the upper strata pictured below will be removed from the site. Without this intervention, the mine site would continually pollute Toroda Creek, threatening aquatic and riparian life downstream of the abandoned mine site. By reducing threats to the water quality of Toroda Creek, this project will protect habitat for macroinvertebrates, riparian plants, rainbow trout, and more.
On August 15, Getches-Wilkinson Water Law Fellow Daniel Anderson submitted a public comment on the Bodie Mine permit application. This public comment on the Bodie Mine permit application considers some of the program-wide concerns and suggestions surfaced in Daniel鈥檚 publication on the Good Samaritan Act in the Water Report in February 2026, including definitional clarity of 鈥渓ow risk鈥 projects, Clean Water Act related permitting*, and more. If all goes according to plan, Bodie Mine may be the first of many such abandoned mines cleaned up by a Good Samaritan under the liability protections offered by the pilot program. In short, this public comment seeks to improve the process and results of the Good Samaritan approach through examination of the Bodie Mine permit application and related documents.
*On August 26, the Washington Department of Ecology issued a Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification for the cleanup activities at Bodie Mine covered by the Good Samaritan permit application.