"WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency was ordered Friday to begin issuing long-overdue rules aimed at stopping mining companies from declaring bankruptcy to avoid pollution cleanups.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the EPA must begin the rulemaking process for the hard-rock mining industry before the end of this year. The EPA agreed to take the actions listed in the order after it was sued in 2014 by six environmental groups.

At issue is a 35-year-old edict under the federal Superfund program that requires polluters to show they have the financial resources to cover the costs of cleaning up ongoing contamination from their operations as well as any potential spills of hazardous materials."

Michael Biesecker reports for the Associated Press January 29, 2016. [2]