New Wyoming Self-Bonding Rules to Undergo More Review
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A citizen regulatory board has decided more review is needed on proposed rules on how coal companies secure the cost of cleaning up any of their mines that close in Wyoming.
The Land Quality Advisory Board on Wednesday remanded the proposed self-bonding rules back to state regulators at the Department of Environmental Quality after hearing complaints about them from coal companies during a public meeting in Gillette.
Travis Deti of the Wyoming Mining Association says the standards shouldn't be set so high that no one can use self-bonding.
Self-bonding came under fire from environmental advocates in recent years who said it puts taxpayers at risk of shouldering the cost of cleaning up closed mines because companies didn't have to set aside money for the effort.