Small pool of big fixes
Locals, officials and experts look for a long-term solution.
SILVERTON» Colorado mountain residents hardest-hit by the EPA-triggered Gold King Mine disaster say they’d like to make Silverton a research hub to find a better way — beyond building water treatment plants — to deal with thousands of mines leaking toxic acids.
Since August, the Environmental Protection Agency has relied on a temporary plant to remove millions of tons of metals sludge draining from the Gold King — muck from a 500-gallon-per-minute flow that won’t reach the Animas River. Running it costs taxpayers $16,000 a week.
And permanent treatment plants here and at thousands of other draining inactive mines around the West would cost billions. Beyond construction, operating costs can top $1 million a year.
Of course, the EPA must treat Gold King discharges for now, Silverton town administrator Bill Gardner said, but perpetual water treatment “may not be the longterm solution.”
Gardner advocated harnessing high science to map out underground terrain in detail, then control drainage using sophisticated plugs and sensors in tunnels.
“We can make lemonade out of lemons,” potentially bringing nontourism business Silverton needs — and a widely applicable solution.
“We’re trying to be stewards of this watershed. This is the West. Water is precious out here. We get that big picture,” he said. “And right now we need to deal with this huge ticking time bomb around us: these leaking mines. We need to look at a holistic approach focused on inner mountain flows of water.”
Silverton and San Juan County officials this month have been pressing for an EPA commitment to keep running the temporary treatment plant until final cleanup is done.
On Thursday, EPA officials told The Denver Post they’ve decided treating the Gold King Mine discharge is “the responsible action at this time.” The EPA “will be continuing work on the GKM mine this year and will need the ability to treat discharges as we work in the mine,” agency spokeswoman Nancy Grantham said.
However, “long-term treatment will need to be decided,” she said, “after a more detailed evaluation of mine discharges and impacts in Cement Creek and the Animas River.”
The local leaders are exploring whether to request a federal environmental disaster designation, which, with Gov. John Hickenlooper’s support, could launch a Superfund cleanup to stop the heavy-metals-laden mine leaks contaminating Animas headwaters.
The temporary system, assuming it runs until at least July, will remove about 2,500 cubic yards of metals sludge, according to EPA data. That sludge, mixed with lime to neutralize acid, is piled in an impoundment below the mine.
“It’s important that they keep that running,” county administrator William Tookey said. “It’s taking heavy metals out of the river. And by doing that, it allows the EPA to continue testing to determine how effective that type of treatment is.”
Last month, county officials asked the EPA to send a removal specialist to let the town know whether the sludge would be buried or trucked to a landfill. The neutralized sludge isn’t classified as hazardous.
“We want to find out what they are doing with the filtration system. Are they going to shut it down?” Tookey said. “And why treat just the drainage from the Gold King?”
The temporary plant treats only the discharge from the Gold King. Other nearby mines still are leaking, worsening contamination of Cement Creek, adding to naturally occurring minerals, all flowing into the Animas. Just one mine, the Red and Bonita, leaks 350 gallons a minute laced with acidic heavy metals into the creek. Other mines above Silverton drain directly into the Animas.
Colorado-based hydrologists for years have helped guide government agencies conducting studies of inactive mines, which contaminate headwaters of 40 percent of Western rivers. They’ve mapped some of the underground tunnels and natural fissures, using tracer solutions, to determine how concrete bulkhead plugs could be used to stop leaks without building water treatment plants.
Modern concrete bulkheads can be designed with valves and sensors to detect pressure changes so that new leaks at different portals and springs could be anticipated and plugged.
At a town hall meeting Jan. 6 with EPA and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials, trustees asked whether the EPA role triggering the Gold King disaster would accelerate this Superfund process. EPA officials gave no assurances.
Silverton resident Kevin Baldwin bristled at that and the possibility the EPA might end temporary water treatment before final cleanup is done.
“And if it needs to run in perpetuity, it belongs to the EPA,” Baldwin told visiting officials.
“You went ahead and did your own thing,” using heavy machinery at the Gold King, triggering the blowout, he said. “Step up to the plate. Pay for it.”