Lawmakers are taking up bipartisan legislation to clean up an abandoned mine in Nevada, which residents and community leaders say has caused problems for decades.

Tomorrow the House Natural Resources Committee's Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee is holding a hearing on the Three Kids Mine, a shuttered 1,260-acre manganese extraction operation near the town of Henderson. While the site is replete with harmful waste, ownership concerns and the scale of cleanup have delayed reclamation.

"Numerous unsuccessful proposals to clean up and redevelop the project site have been advanced over the years," Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) said at an August hearing. "All were ultimately abandoned due to unrealistic estimates of the scale of required remediation, as well as the complexities posed by the mix of private and federal ownership at the project site."

The bill (H.R. 2512) being discussed tomorrow makes way for the U.S. government to sell its plots to the Henderson Redevelopment Agency taking into account cleanup costs, which would be paid for with state and private dollars. Planners envision the construction of homes on the site.

Heck is backing the legislation along with his Nevada colleagues from both parties. New member Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), a former head of the Nevada Mining Association who sits on the Natural Resources Committee, has signed on. And in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) is leading the effort.

Heck said the site contains waste ponds that are up to 60 feet deep and filled with more than 1 million cubic yards of gelatinous tailings with high concentrations of arsenic, lead and petroleum compounds.

Also on the panel's agenda is legislation (H.R. 3479) to reauthorize the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), already made it through a House Science Committee subpanel.

Schedule: The hearing is tomorrow at 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.

Witnesses: TBA.