Old mine draws ATTENTION
Dangers presented by defunct copper operation near Cuba, N.M., under study
CUBA — For decades, yellowand white-tinged piles of waste from a defunct copper mine have covered the mountainside at the edge of Cuba — out of sight, out of mind and not nasty enough to warrant the attention of the federal government’s Superfund program.
Still, State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn says something needs to be done as heavy metals leach from the tainted soil.
“It’s not going to go away,” Dunn said while standing on the expansive sand dune that has developed over the tailings. “There are two choices: Do nothing and look the other way or start to figure out how to fix it.”
Dunn’s office has hired a consultant to identify alternatives for cleaning up the tons of waste left behind on the portion covering state trust land. The findings are due next week.
The study also will look at costs. Dunn estimates over $5 million — an expense with which he said the state should not really be saddled.
The Nacimiento Mine is among many sites in the West where polluters are long gone, and state and local governments have been left holding the bag. As is the case in New Mexico, many sites were mined long before regulations required companies to post bonds for remediation and restoration.
Overall, federal land managers estimate there as many as 500,000 abandoned mines in the U.S., and cleanup efforts are spread among various federal and state agencies as part of broader programs.
Federal agencies alone have informally estimated they spend around $85 million annually on remediating hardrock mines.
The threats stemming from abandoned mines became real in 2015 when a federal contractor crew breached a pile of debris that was holding back water inside the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado. About 3 million gallons spilled, sending a mustard-colored plume of pollution into waterways in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. Indian lands were also affected.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended up designating the Gold King and 47 other mining sites in the area a Superfund district.
The spill also triggered lawsuits and dozens of damage claims.
The New Mexico Environmental Law Center has been tracking abandoned mines, particularly uranium mines along the Arizona-New Mexico border and copper mines in the southern part of New Mexico. The group contends the issue is under-recognized.
“They’re not getting much attention, if any at all. Nevertheless, they’re still festering and contaminating resources,” attorney Eric Jantz said of the forgotten sites. “In terms of the resource damage that these mines do, I think there’s a certain amount of willful ignorance on the part of policymakers.”
Dunn said sites such as Nacimiento should serve as an example. “That’s why we need to be responsible in what we do,” he said.