Federal Land Management: Information on Efforts to Inventory Abandoned
Hard Rock Mines (Letter Report, 02/23/96, GAO/RCED-96-30).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on
abandoned hard rock mines on federal lands, focusing on the: (1)
approximate number of such mines; (2) types of hazards the mines pose;
and (3) approximate cost to reclaim the mines.

GAO found that: (1) the four major federal land managing agencies are
each taking inventory of the abandoned mines on the lands they manage,
but because the agencies do not use consistent methodologies to develop
their estimates, there is no definitive inventory available; (2) the
Forest Service has estimated of the number of abandoned mines on federal
lands to be up to 25,000 sites; (3) nonfederal entities are also working
to standardize terminology and guidelines to aid in future inventories;
(4) abandoned hard rock mines can pose physical safety hazards, cause
environmental degradation, and contaminate water; (5) the agencies use
different factors to classify their sites for risk, and only two of the
four agencies rank the severity of hazards; (6) nonfederal organizations
have determined that 194,500 sites were generally safe, while 231,900
needed landscaping, 116,300 presented minor safety hazards, 14,900 could
cause water contamination, and 50 threatened public safety and required
complex cleanup; (7) the agencies have not completed the fieldwork
needed to identify the number and types of problems on their sites; and
(8) the Bureau of Mines believes that worst-case scenario costs could
range between $4 billion and $35.3 billion and nonfederal organizations
estimate that costs could exceed $70 billion, but no comprehensive cost
estimate for reclaiming abandoned hard rock mines on federal lands
exists.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  RCED-96-30
     TITLE:  Federal Land Management: Information on Efforts to 
             Inventory Abandoned Hard Rock Mines
      DATE:  02/23/96
   SUBJECT:  Mining
             Mineral bearing lands
             Public lands
             Mine safety
             Health hazards
             Water pollution control
             Future budget projections
             Surface mining land reclamation
             Environment evaluation
             Land management
IDENTIFIER:  Superfund Program
             Department of Interior Minerals Availability 
             System/Minerals Industry Location System
             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


Report to the Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Resources, House
of Representatives

February 1996

FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT -
INFORMATION ON
EFFORTS TO INVENTORY
ABANDONED HARD
ROCK MINES

GAO/RCED-96-30

Abandoned Hard Rock Mines

(140295)


Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV

  BLM - Bureau of Land Management
  GAO - General Accounting Office
  FWS - Fish and Wildlife Service
  USDA - U.S.  Department of Agriculture
  USGS - U.S.  Geological Survey

Letter
=============================================================== LETTER


B-270257

February 23, 1996

The Honorable George Miller
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Resources
House of Representatives

Dear Mr.  Miller: 

Thousands of hard rock mines lie abandoned on federal lands.  Many of
these mines present physical safety hazards, and a smaller number
cause environmental degradation through, for example, acid drainage
that carries toxic concentrations of heavy metals.  Many of these
abandoned mines are located on federal lands in the western United
States managed by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land
Management, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service and
by the U.S.  Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.  This report
focuses on these agencies because they manage 623 million acres, or
about 95 percent of the federal lands in the United States. 

Concerned about the potential for damage from these mines, you asked
us to report on the (1) approximate number of abandoned hard rock
mines on federally managed lands, (2) types of hazards these mines
pose, and (3) approximate cost to reclaim these mines.\1


--------------------
\1 In this report, we use the term "reclaim" to include remediation. 
In some cases, federal agencies remedy the effects of abandoned mines
rather than totally reclaiming them either because the costs of doing
so are prohibitively high or because total reclamation is not
possible (for example, when acid drainage is perpetual or the mine is
on privately owned land). 


   RESULTS IN BRIEF
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :1

No definitive inventory is available of the number of abandoned hard
rock mines located on federal lands.  The four major land-managing
agencies--the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service,
the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service--are in various
stages of inventorying the mine sites on the lands they manage, and
other organizations have also made estimates.  While the Bureau of
Land Management does not have an agencywide estimate, the National
Park Service estimates about 2,500 sites, the Fish and Wildlife
Service about 240 sites, and the Forest Service about 25,000 sites on
the lands they manage.  However, because the methodologies and
assumptions used to develop these estimates differ, the results
cannot be meaningfully compared or added.  For example, some units
within the National Park Service counted as one mine site all the
features associated with a mining operation (such as tunnels, shafts,
and structures), while other units counted a single feature, such as
a tunnel, as a site. 

The hazards posed by abandoned hard rock mines may generally be
categorized as either physical safety hazards or environmental
degradation.  Safety hazards may include, for example, open mine
shafts and undetonated explosives; environmental degradation may
include highly acidic water draining from the mine sites.  However,
classifying the sites requires extensive fieldwork.  Of the four
agencies, only two--the Bureau of Land Management and the National
Park Service--have ranking systems that account for the type and
level of risk.  Furthermore, the agencies use different factors to
classify their sites.  For example, while the Forest Service
classifies its sites according to whether they cause or potentially
cause environmental degradation, the National Park Service ranks its
sites on their degree of hazard, degree of impact on the environment,
and accessibility. 

Accurately determining the cost to reclaim specific sites requires
detailed site studies, which the four key land-managing agencies have
performed to various extents.  Two of the four agencies--the National
Park Service and the Forest Service--have estimated the costs to
reclaim abandoned mine sites on their lands, while the Bureau of Land
Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service have not prepared cost
estimates.  The National Park Service estimates about $165 million
and the Forest Service about $4.7 billion in costs to reclaim
abandoned hard rock mines on the lands they manage. 

A summary of each organization's estimate of the number and type of
mines and, where available, the cost to reclaim them appears in
appendix I. 


   BACKGROUND
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :2

Under the Mining Law of 1872 (30 U.S.C.  22 et seq.), United States
citizens and businesses may freely prospect for hard rock
minerals--such as gold, silver, lead, and copper--on most federal
lands not specifically closed to mining.  Although all mining claims
must be filed with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), each agency
is responsible for the surface management of mining activities that
take place on lands it manages.  When mining operators or other
responsible parties have previously failed to reclaim areas where
mining operations have taken place on federal lands and are currently
economically unable to do so, the burden of cleaning up these
properties may fall upon the taxpayers. 

Regulations promulgated by BLM and the Forest Service in 1980 and
1974, respectively, require that once mining activities are
completed, the mine operators must reclaim all areas disturbed by
their operations as soon as possible.  Furthermore, according to the
Department of the Interior and the Forest Service, even before these
regulations were promulgated, the operators were responsible for
cleaning up their sites under state laws requiring the reclamation of
such sites and under laws prohibiting the creation of nuisances. 
Mining operations that were ongoing when BLM's and the Forest
Service's regulations were promulgated were allowed to continue, but
they had to be brought into compliance with each agency's surface
management regulations.  According to Department of the Interior and
Forest Service officials, the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C.  9601 et seq.) imposes
liability on mining operators for cleaning up abandoned mining
operations that release hazardous substances on federal lands. 

National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) lands have
generally been withdrawn from mineral exploration.  However, there
are abandoned hard rock mine sites on these lands.  Some are sites
that preexisted the establishment or expansion of a park or wildlife
refuge, and some are sites whose operators had valid existing rights
when the lands were withdrawn from mining but have not reclaimed the
sites. 

In addition to the land-managing agencies, two other agencies within
the Department of the Interior--the Bureau of Mines and U.S. 
Geological Survey (USGS)--have addressed the issue of abandoned hard
rock mines.  The Bureau of Mines is concerned with mineral production
and environmental remediation technologies.  USGS assesses mineral
resources and mining-related environmental problems. 


   NATIONWIDE INVENTORY OF
   ABANDONED HARD ROCK MINES ON
   FEDERAL LANDS IS UNAVAILABLE
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :3

Attempts to determine how many hard rock mines lie abandoned
nationwide have not resulted in a definitive inventory of these mines
on federal lands.  The four major land-managing agencies are in
various stages of inventorying the abandoned mines on the lands they
manage.  Other organizations, such as the Bureau of Mines and the
Mineral Policy Center,\2 have also attempted to estimate the number
of sites.  However, because these sites are defined and counted
differently, the individual results cannot be meaningfully combined
or compared. 


--------------------
\2 The Mineral Policy Center is an environmental research and
advocacy organization. 


      STATUS OF LAND-MANAGING
      AGENCIES' INVENTORIES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.1

BLM, which began an inventory in 1994, has made no overall estimate
of the number of abandoned mine sites.  BLM's Nevada and Utah state
offices are piloting the agency's inventory approach, and several
other state offices, including Colorado and Montana, have also begun
field inventories, with the following results: 

  The Nevada state office estimates 400,000 mine openings,
     structures, and other individual components of mining operations
     statewide, regardless of who owns the land.  As the inventory
     progresses, it will differentiate between federal and other
     lands. 

  The Utah state office is working with the state of Utah to
     inventory sites.  On the basis of information from the state of
     Utah's Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program and some fieldwork,
     the estimated number of sites in Utah is 17,000 to 20,000 on
     public and private lands.\3

  The Colorado state office, which expects to complete its portion of
     the inventory in 1996, is identifying a smaller number of sites
     on federal lands than it expected.  While officials initially
     expected to find as many as 15,000 sites on federal lands in
     Colorado, field staff have found that few of the mines are
     actually located on BLM-managed lands. 

  The Montana state office, working in cooperation with the Montana
     Bureau of Mines and Geology, has identified about 1,000 sites on
     BLM-managed lands in that state. 

The National Park Service, in an effort begun in 1984, has counted
the number of abandoned hard rock mines in almost all of its
units--99 percent, according to officials--except for some in Alaska
and the 3.1 million acres over which it acquired jurisdiction as a
result of the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 (P.L. 
103-433).  The agency has tallied 2,500 sites, but the field
personnel responsible for the inventory defined sites in different
ways.  Although the National Park Service defines a "site" as a
"particular operation .  .  .  or area where mining occurred, which
may .  .  .  [include] multiple `openings,' i.e., shafts, adits,
inclines, pits, prospects, etc.," the agency's units defined sites in
different ways, according to officials.  For example, one unit
defined a site as a grouping of mining-related features; others
designated individual features, such as a single mine opening, as one
site. 

According to FWS, the agency's wildlife refuges contain approximately
240 abandoned hard rock mine sites.  FWS obtained this information on
the number of sites by reviewing its mining files and requesting
confirmation from its field offices.  FWS does not consider abandoned
hard rock mines a major problem on its refuges. 

According to the Forest Service, there are about 25,000 sites within
National Forest boundaries.\4 The Forest Service identified these
sites using aerial photography and fieldwork, and the data were
compiled by the U.S.  Department of Agriculture's Office of the
Inspector General through a questionnaire.  The Forest Service is
attempting to more precisely screen the sites in individual forests
and expects to complete this effort in 1997. 


--------------------
\3 In this report, the term "public lands" includes federal and
state-owned lands. 

\4 According to Forest Service officials, the lands within National
Forest boundaries include many tracts of privately owned lands
containing abandoned mines. 


      ESTIMATES BY OTHER FEDERAL
      AGENCIES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.2

The Bureau of Mines and USGS have estimated the total number of
abandoned hard rock mines on federal lands.  However, these estimates
cannot be meaningfully compared with any of the other estimates
because they vary in scope and in the types of data used for the
estimates. 

The Bureau of Mines estimates that there are 15,300 sites on the
lands managed by the agencies within the Department of the Interior
and 12,500 sites on the lands managed by the Forest Service.  These
estimates are based on information in the Minerals Availability
System/Minerals Industry Location System, a computerized database
containing information about the location of and past activities at
over 200,000 mineral deposits.  However, these data were collected
for purposes other than inventorying abandoned mines, and although
they identify areas where mining occurred, they do not account for
all mine sites and features.  As a result, according to a National
Park Service report and BLM officials, these data require further
confirmation to ensure their accuracy. 

Although USGS has not independently inventoried abandoned mine sites,
it compiled data from the land-managing agencies in response to a
congressional request for information about sites containing
hazardous materials on the lands managed by the Department of the
Interior.  Using the assumption that all abandoned hard rock mines
are potentially contaminated, USGS estimated that, as of July 1994,
there were approximately 88,000 sites on the lands managed by
agencies within the Department of the Interior.  USGS obtained these
data from the agencies, with the exception of BLM.  For the lands
managed by that agency, USGS made estimates from data included in a
1991 report by the Western Governors' Association entitled Inactive
and Abandoned Noncoal Mines--A Scoping Study.\5


--------------------
\5 This report was issued by the Western Governors' Association Mine
Waste Task Force in cooperation with the Interstate Mining Compact
Commission. 


      ESTIMATES BY NONFEDERAL
      ORGANIZATIONS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.3

The 1991 report of the Western Governors' Association reported data
obtained from 33 states on abandoned and inactive hard rock mines. 
However, the report cautioned that "The findings presented are not
comparable among states because of variability in the definitions . 
.  .  used by states, and variability in the type and quality of data
available to states.  Neither the number of sites, nor the cost of
remediation, reported by individual states can be totalled to present
a consistent national total." [Emphasis by the Western Governors'
Association.] The Western Governors' Association, in an effort funded
by the Bureau of Mines, is working with state and federal agencies
and private organizations to recommend consistent terminology and
guidelines that would aid in future inventories. 

In a June 1993 report, the Mineral Policy Center estimated that there
were about 560,000 mine sites on public and private lands.\6 This
estimate was also based upon data reported by the Western Governors'
Association, supplemented with interviews and documents from state
officials and discussions with private contractors and consultants. 


--------------------
\6 James S.  Lyon et al., Burden of Gilt, Mineral Policy Center
(Washington, D.C.:  June 1993). 


   ABANDONED HARD ROCK MINES
   GENERALLY POSE TWO KINDS OF
   HAZARDS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :4

The problems posed by abandoned hard rock mines can generally be
classified as physical safety hazards or environmental degradation. 
Physical safety hazards, which can lead to human injury or death, may
include concealed shafts or pits, unsafe structures, and explosives. 
Conditions causing environmental degradation may include drainage of
toxic or acidic water, which could result in soil and groundwater
contamination or biological impacts.  However, because not all of the
agencies have completed their inventories, they have not conducted
the necessary fieldwork to identify how many mine sites with problems
of each type are on the lands they manage.  Furthermore, the factors
the agencies use to classify their inventories are not consistent
from agency to agency. 


      HOW LAND-MANAGING AGENCIES
      HAVE CLASSIFIED SITES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.1

According to BLM's guidance on the inventory, as sites are identified
they should be placed in categories according to the presence or
potential for safety or environmental hazards, as well as reclamation
needs.  BLM also has a basic ranking system, but the agency has not
yet compared the rankings across state or field offices.  BLM's
inventory in Nevada found extensive safety hazards and confirmed that
most of the chemically hazardous sites are already known.  The
current focus of BLM's Montana state office is on approximately 100
sites that are affecting water quality. 

The National Park Service classifies sites according to the type and
degree of hazard they present.  Each site that will require
reclamation is ranked on the basis of its (1) degree of hazard, (2)
degree of impact on the environment, and (3) accessibility.  The
weight applied to these criteria is flexible and varies according to
the relevant program's emphasis.  According to the National Park
Service's Associate Director for Natural Resources, Stewardship, and
Science, the agency has a basic knowledge of the hazards at every
identified abandoned mine site.  The 2,500 identified sites include
nearly 7,700 hazardous openings, and the National Park Service
estimates that 5 to 10 percent of all the sites pose an environmental
threat, such as the impairment of water quality. 

FWS program officials say that there are no known hazardous sites
with abandoned mines on wildlife refuges.  FWS has not categorized
its sites any further. 

The Forest Service is classifying its sites according to the existing
and potential environmental degradation, identifying sites according
to whether they may degrade water quality or other natural resources
or contain hazardous materials.  According to a March 1993 report by
the Forest Service, over 1,500 western mining sites with significant
problems of acid drainage have been identified on the lands in the
National Forest System.\7 A hazardous material specialist with the
Forest Service said that approximately 10 percent of the abandoned
mine sites on the lands managed by that agency have a high potential
to be hazardous waste sites. 


--------------------
\7 Acid Drainage from Mines on the National Forests:  A Management
Challenge, USDA Forest Service in Cooperation with the U.S. 
Department of the Interior's Bureau of Mines, Program Aid 1505 (Mar. 
1993). 


      HOW OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES
      HAVE CLASSIFIED SITES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.2

The Bureau of Mines and USGS have both focused on environmental
effects in classifying the sites.  However, their sources of data are
different, and the data were compiled for different purposes.  Both
agencies are working with an interdepartmental task force, in which
the four land-managing agencies are also involved, that has proposed
addressing the effects of abandoned hard rock mines throughout
watersheds, rather than site by site. 

The Bureau of Mines used data based on the mines' past production. 
On the basis of a study of sites in one national forest, the Bureau
of Mines has suggested that approximately 2 percent of abandoned hard
rock sites might need detailed assessments; a smaller number would
need environmental remediation. 

USGS collected data from individual agencies, which, as noted
earlier, may have different methods and strategies for classifying
sites. 


      HOW NONFEDERAL ORGANIZATIONS
      HAVE CLASSIFIED SITES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.3

The Western Governors' Association and the Mineral Policy Center also
attempted to categorize abandoned hard rock mine sites according to
their hazards.  However, as with the inventory estimates, they
reported the data differently. 

The states provided data for the report by the Western Governors'
Association on the types of hazards associated with abandoned hard
rock mines, but they did not all report in the same way.  For
example, Montana reported the numbers of sites, disturbed acres, mine
openings, acres of mine dumps, mill sites, smelters, miles of
polluted water, and hazardous structures.  In contrast, Nevada
reported the number of sites, disturbed acres, and mine openings,
without the additional detail. 

In its June 1993 report, the Mineral Policy Center classified all
abandoned hard rock mine sites into six types, ranging from "benign"
to "Superfund." This classification was based on information in the
report of the Western Governors' Association and on follow-up with
the states and the Environmental Protection Agency.  Specifically,
the Mineral Policy Center classified the sites as follows:  194,500
were benign, needing little if any remediation; 231,900 needed
revegetation or landscaping; 116,300 presented safety hazards needing
prompt but not necessarily extensive action; 14,400 needed extensive
work to prevent surface water contamination; 500 needed complex work
to prevent groundwater contamination; and 50 were Superfund sites,
posing a severe threat to the public and needing complex cleanup. 


   NATIONWIDE COST ESTIMATE FOR
   RECLAIMING HARD ROCK MINES ON
   FEDERAL LANDS IS UNAVAILABLE
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :5

No nationwide cost estimate for reclaiming abandoned hard rock mines
on federal lands is available.  Preparing accurate estimates of the
reclamation costs requires detailed assessments, or
characterizations, of the sites, involving physical inspection and
in-depth evaluation of the problems at each site.  These studies are
costly because the estimates can involve complex hydrology and
chemistry of soil and water.  Historic preservation and protection of
endangered species can also affect reclamation costs.  The agencies
have completed a few such detailed site analyses. 


      AGENCIES' COST ESTIMATES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :5.1

An estimate of the total cost to reclaim BLM lands is not available
because the agency's inventory is not yet complete.  However,
according to BLM geologists, (1) costs will vary among the states
depending upon the type of reclamation required and (2) the costs to
clean up environmental damage are much higher than the costs to
alleviate physical safety hazards.  For example, the costs will be
different in Colorado and Montana, where BLM officials are concerned
about how the sites are affecting water quality, than in a more arid
state such as Nevada.  In Nevada, where water quality is less likely
to be affected, BLM officials are focusing more on public safety
because of the proximity of abandoned mine sites to population
centers. 

The National Park Service estimates that the cost to reclaim the
abandoned mine sites on the lands it currently manages will total
about $165 million.  These costs include about $40 million for
short-term, or urgent, needs.  However, these estimates do not
include all the National Park Service's lands in Alaska or the 3.1
million acres over which it recently acquired jurisdiction in the
California desert.  The estimates are based on the National Park
Service's experience in reclaiming abandoned mine sites and
mitigating their effects. 

Although FWS has not estimated reclamation costs, the small number of
abandoned mines at most of the refuges are not considered a
significant problem and are not known to be hazardous, according to
agency officials. 

The Forest Service estimates the total cost to reclaim the abandoned
mine sites on the federal and private lands within National Forest
boundaries to be about $4.7 billion.  This estimate includes $2.5
billion to clean up approximately 2,500 sites with hazardous waste
and restore the natural resources at these sites, and an additional
$2.2 billion to restore water quality and address safety problems at
the remaining 22,500 sites.  The Forest Service still needs to
complete preliminary site investigations to rank the sites for more
detailed analysis, officials said.  These detailed site assessments
will give the Forest Service the information it needs to prepare more
accurate cost estimates. 


      COST ESTIMATES BY OTHER
      FEDERAL AGENCIES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :5.2

The Bureau of Mines estimated the "worst-case" cost of reclaiming
abandoned mine sites on federal lands at between $4 billion and $35.3
billion.  However, this estimate was based upon the assumption that
as many as 10,450 sites would require reclamation, while Bureau of
Mines officials expect the actual number of sites that would be
reclaimed to be far smaller.  USGS has not estimated reclamation
costs. 

In a September 1991 report, the Department of the Interior's Office
of Inspector General estimated that it would cost about $11 billion
to reclaim the "known universe" of all abandoned noncoal mine sites
(not just those on federally managed lands).\8 This estimate was
based upon the Bureau of Mines' estimate of the extent of damage
rather than on the number and type of abandoned hard rock mine sites. 
The report did not include an estimate of the number of sites, nor
did it classify the sites by the type of hazard they present. 


--------------------
\8 Noncoal Reclamation, Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Program,
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Department of
the Interior, Office of Inspector General, Report No.  91-I-1248
(Sept.  9, 1991). 


      COST ESTIMATES BY NONFEDERAL
      ORGANIZATIONS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :5.3

In most cases, the states reporting to the Western Governors'
Association estimated the cost of reclaiming sites.  However, not all
the states reported such estimates, and those that did so reported
statewide estimates without regard to whether the lands were publicly
or privately owned. 

The Mineral Policy Center has projected the total cost of cleaning up
all abandoned hard rock mines (not just those on federal lands) to be
from $33 billion to $72 billion.  This estimate was based on data
contained in the Western Governors' Association's report and on
follow-up discussions with the participating states and with the
Environmental Protection Agency. 


   AGENCY COMMENTS AND OUR
   EVALUATION
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :6

We requested comments on a draft of this report from the Secretary of
the Interior and the Chief of the Forest Service or their designees. 
We met with and obtained comments from officials from the Department
of the Interior's Office of the Solicitor, BLM, National Park
Service, FWS, USGS, and Office of Policy Analysis and with officials
from the U.S.  Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and Office
of General Counsel.  These officials generally agreed with the
factual information presented in this report.  Officials from several
of the agencies provided technical clarifications, which we have
incorporated as appropriate. 

Officials from the Department of the Interior asked that we recognize
their concern that a comprehensive inventory could be mandated. 
According to these officials, such an inventory would be costly and
take efforts away from remediation.  In this regard, officials from
Interior's agencies noted that the interagency approach of targeting
remediation throughout a watershed towards those water bodies
impaired by drainage from the abandoned mines would be more
cost-effective and worthwhile than a comprehensive inventory of
individual mine sites on federal lands.  Interior and Forest Service
officials noted that environmental problems on federal lands often
result from abandoned hard rock mines on private lands located within
those federally managed lands. 

Because the purpose of our report was to provide information on the
number of abandoned mines on federal lands, the hazards these mines
pose, and the cost to reclaim them, we did not evaluate the agencies'
specific approaches to inventorying or remediating these mine sites,
nor did we address other issues affecting federal lands. 


---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :6.1

In conducting our review, we examined relevant reports and other
documents prepared by the four principal land-managing agencies we
reviewed within the departments of the Interior and Agriculture.  We
also interviewed program managers from these organizations in
Washington, D.C., and in regional, state, and local offices, as
appropriate.  In addition, we reviewed reports by Interior's Office
of Inspector General, the Western Governors' Association, and the
Mineral Policy Center.  A full description of our scope and
methodology is included in appendix II.  We conducted our review from
May 1995 through January 1996 in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards. 

As requested, unless you publicly announce its contents earlier, we
plan no further distribution of this report until 7 days after the
date of this letter.  At that time, we will send copies to
appropriate congressional committees and federal agencies and to
other interested parties.  We will also make copies available to
others on request. 

Please call me at (202) 512-3841 if you or your staff have any
questions about this report.  Major contributors to this report are
listed in appendix III. 

Sincerely yours,

Victor S.  Rezendes
Director, Energy, Resources,
 and Science Issues


ESTIMATES OF NUMBER AND TYPES OF
SITES AND COST TO RECLAIM, BY
ORGANIZATION
=========================================================== Appendix I

Agency/         Estimated number of   How sites are         Estimated cost to
organization    sites                 classified            reclaim
--------------  --------------------  --------------------  --------------------
Land-managing agencies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Park   About 2,500           Degree of hazard,     $165 million (about
Service                               degree of             $40 million short-
                                      environmental         term)
                                      impact,
                                      accessibility

Bureau of Land  No overall estimate   Presence or           No official estimate
Management      Nevada: 400,000       potential for safety
                features\a            or environmental
                Utah: 17,000-         hazards, as well as
                20,000\a              reclamation needs
                Colorado: fewer than
                15,000\b
                Montana: about 1,000
                sites\b

Fish and        About 240 sites       According to          No official estimate
Wildlife                              officials, no sites
Service                               are known to be
                                      hazardous

Forest Service  About 25,000 sites\c  Existing and          $4.7 billion
                                      potential
                                      environmental
                                      degradation


Other federal agencies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bureau of       15,300 sites on       Environmental         $4 billion to $35.3
Mines           Interior lands and    hazards               billion
                12,500 sites on
                Forest Service lands

U.S.            88,000 sites on       Potentially           No official estimate
Geological      Interior lands        contaminated sites
Survey

Interior's      No estimate           No classification     About $11 billion
Office of
Inspector
General


Other organizations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Western         No estimate\d         No classification     No estimate\d
Governors'
Association

Mineral Policy  560,000 sites\e       Six categories        $33 billion to $72
Center                                ranging from          billion
                                      "benign" to
                                      "Superfund"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  The estimates of the costs to reclaim sites were prepared by
the agencies and organizations listed above.  The accuracy of the
estimates prepared by the four land-managing agencies depends on
detailed site studies, which they have performed to various extents. 
Because these agencies and the other agencies and organizations
listed used different methodologies and assumptions to develop their
estimates, the estimates cannot be meaningfully compared or added. 

\a Statewide, regardless of whether the lands are publicly or
privately owned. 

\b On public lands. 

\c Within National Forest boundaries; may include some privately
owned lands. 

\d According to the Western Governors' Association, "neither the
number of sites, nor the cost of remediation, reported by individual
states can be totalled to present a consistent national total."

\e Nationwide, regardless of whether the lands are publicly or
privately owned. 


OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY
========================================================== Appendix II

The Ranking Minority Member, House Committee on Resources, asked us
to report on the (1) approximate number of abandoned hard rock mines
on federally managed land, (2) types of hazards these mines pose, and
(3) approximate cost to reclaim these mines. 

To determine the approximate number of such mines on federally
managed lands, we obtained the available inventory information from
program managers in the Department of the Interior and the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture.  We focused on the Department of the
Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service,
and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and on the U.S.  Department of
Agriculture's Forest Service because they manage 623 million acres,
or about 95 percent of the federal lands in the United States.  To
ascertain the types of hazards these abandoned mines pose, we
reviewed the agencies' documents and interviewed program managers in
the two departments.  To obtain estimates of the costs to reclaim
these mines, we interviewed program managers and obtained any
estimates that had already been prepared by the agencies in both
departments.  We also interviewed officials from the U.S.  Department
of Agriculture's Office of the Inspector General. 

We reviewed relevant documents and interviewed program managers in
the departments of the Interior and Agriculture.  At the Department
of the Interior, we met with officials from the three key
land-managing agencies:  BLM, the National Park Service, and FWS.  We
also met with program officials from the Bureau of Mines and the U.S. 
Geological Survey (USGS), and the Office of Inspector General.  At
the U.S.  Department of Agriculture, we met with program officials
from the Forest Service and Office of the Inspector General.  We also
interviewed representatives of the Western Governors' Association and
the Mineral Policy Center, and reviewed their reports.  We did not
evaluate the agencies' or other organizations' inventory or
cost-estimation methodologies. 

In addition, we reviewed three audit reports issued by the Department
of the Interior's Inspector General.  At the time of our review, the
U.S.  Department of Agriculture's Inspector General was validating
the Forest Service's inventory of abandoned hard rock mines.  The
Inspector General's report had not been issued at the time of this
report. 


MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS REPORT
========================================================= Appendix III

ENERGY, RESOURCES, AND SCIENCE
ISSUES

Sue E.  Naiberk, Assistant Director
David E.  Flores, Evaluator-in-Charge
Jennifer L.  Duncan, Senior Evaluator

*** End of document. ***