XPost: alt.politics.obama, sci.engr.mining, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: eljones@heavy.com   
      
   Back in June, the Environmental Protection Agency had begun work   
   to plug the abandoned Red and Bonita mine near Silverton,   
   Colorado, that had been draining toxic heavy metals into the   
   Animas River for years.   
      
   Then everything went horribly, horribly wrong.   
      
   On August 4, EPA workers were clearing out the nearby Gold King   
   mine, closed since 1923, when they breached a debris dam that   
   had been holding back a massive amount of water laced with   
   arsenic, lead, and other toxins.   
      
   All that contaminated water gushed out, unstoppably, coursing   
   down the mountains and turning the Animas River a sickening   
   shade of yellow:   
      
   At first, the EPA said that about 1 million gallons of   
   wastewater had been released. Then, on an August 9 press call,   
   officials said they'd taken fresh measurements and actually 3   
   million gallons had spilled out — about five Olympic-sized   
   swimming pools worth.   
      
   Officials have warned people in the region to avoid contact with   
   the river as the contaminated water surges through. The EPA is   
   also warning people with wells in nearby floodplains to have   
   their water tested before drinking or bathing. Both the nearby   
   city of Durango and La Plata County in Colorado have declared   
   states of emergencies, as has the Navajo Nation Commission on   
   Emergency Management.   
      
   This whole disaster raises a couple of big questions: Why was   
   the EPA messing around with abandoned mines in this area? And   
   how did the agency manage to trigger such a massive spill? To   
   understand this story, we have to walk back through the legacy   
   of mining in Colorado, which is still creating grisly   
   environmental problems to this day.   
      
   Colorado has hundreds of old mines still leaking toxins   
      
   Starting in the 1870s, miners have rushed to the Silverton   
   region to seek out gold, silver, and other valuable resources.   
   But as Stephanie Ogburn at KUNC and Jonathan Thompson at High   
   Country News recount in excellent pieces, that mining boom left   
   a serious mess behind.   
      
   There were two major environmental problems associated with   
   mining. First, up until the 1930s or so, miners often just   
   dumped their tailings — waste material that frequently contained   
   toxic heavy metals — into nearby streams and rivers. Around   
   Silverton, heavy metals accumulated in the riverbeds of the   
   Upper Animas River, and their effects lingered for decades. For   
   many years, fish couldn't survive in these waters.   
      
   Second, as miners dug and blasted shafts, they'd typically hit   
   groundwater, which would begin flowing through fractures in the   
   rock. As that water mixed with air and sulfides, it would react   
   to form sulfuric acid. That acidic wash, in turn, dissolved and   
   picked up various heavy metals in the ground — like zinc,   
   arsenic, lead, and copper. These toxic streams of water are   
   known as "acid mine drainage" and they're still a problem to   
   this day, flowing out of mines and into nearby streams.   
      
   The last mine near Silverton closed in 1991. But there are still   
   more than 400 abandoned mines in the region, and many continue   
   to fill up with toxin-laced water that then leaches out into   
   rivers and streams. And cleaning up these old mines has been a   
   gruesome challenge for decades.   
      
   The state has struggled to clean up these old mines — and EPA   
   recently stepped in   
      
   That brings us to the Red and Bonita and Gold King mines that   
   the EPA was working on. These, too, have a tangled history.   
      
   In 1991, Sunnyside Gold Corp. closed its last big mine in the   
   region, American Tunnel. After long negotiations with the state,   
   Sunnyside began clean-up efforts and eventually plugged American   
   Tunnel in three places to prevent further acid mine drainage.   
      
   Unfortunately, the water in the mines then backed up and, in   
   2006, acid drainage began leaking out of the nearby Red and   
   Bonita mines, which had long been abandoned. The company that   
   had taken ownership of these mines in the meantime, Gold King,   
   soon ran into financial difficulties and could no longer treat   
   the water that was pouring into the Upper Animas River. After a   
   brief period when fish had returned to the river, it was   
   poisoned yet again.   
      
   Now enter the EPA. Ever since the 1980s, the agency has wanted   
   to declare parts of the Silverton region a Superfund site, which   
   would trigger federal funds for intensive clean-up efforts. But   
   local residents have long resisted this move, out of concern   
   that the bad publicity would drive tourists away.   
      
   So, instead, the EPA has been taking a more piecemeal approach —   
   working with the state and the Animas River Stakeholder Group to   
   clean up mines in the region bit by bit. That meant removing   
   waste from both the Red and Bonita and nearby Gold King mines,   
   diverting water that was entering those mines, and eventually   
   plugging their openings with concrete bulkheads. The cost? Some   
   $1.5 million.   
      
   It's worth noting that even this clean-up measure was always   
   considered highly uncertain. EPA workers didn't know if the acid   
   mine discharge would eventually back out and flow somewhere   
   else. "This, in a way, is as much as experiment as the American   
   Tunnel," Steve Fearn, co-coordinator of the Animas River   
   Stakeholders Group, told the Durango Herald in June.   
      
   The clean-up efforts went horribly awry in August   
      
   The EPA began clean-up work in late June 2015. On August 4,   
   workers were clearing out the partially collapsed Gold King mine   
   when they breached a debris dam that had been holding back toxic   
   water, filled with contaminants. That water flowed out, and the   
   Animas River was suddenly flooded yet again by a gusher of heavy   
   metals.   
      
   Some notes here: First, the river was hardly pristine before   
   this incident, and it's unclear how much additional damage this   
   blow-out has actually caused. Testing by the EPA has revealed   
   that the heavy metal contaminants became more diluted by the   
   time the water reached the town of Durango, and early tests   
   downstream with fish cages have revealed that the water isn't   
   killing them all. Still, it's a worrisome situation and the   
   agency is scrambling to monitor things closely.   
      
   Meanwhile, this is hardly the first disastrous blowout from an   
   old mine. Jonathan Thompson of High Country News offers some   
   context: "In June of 1975, a huge tailings pile on the banks of   
   the Animas River northeast of Silverton was breached, dumping   
   tens of thousands of gallons of water, along with 50,000 tons of   
   heavy-metal-loaded tailings into the Animas. For 100 miles   
   downstream, the river 'looked like aluminum paint,' according to   
   a Durango Herald reporter at the time; fish placed in a cage in   
   the water in Durango all died within 24 hours."   
      
   Still, what's eye-catching here is that this time the EPA is at   
   fault — not a mining company. Even though the agency was trying   
   to clean up a toxic mess that has been simmering for decades,   
   even though efforts to stem the flow of polluted mining water   
   have often gone awry, even though these particular clean-up   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)