New technologies may help clean up the Gold King Mine spill and Bonita Peak Mining District in southwestern Colorado, now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has formally declared the area a Superfund site.
Some 13 months ago, EPA contractors working to clean up the Gold King Mine instead released millions of gallons of liquid toxins into the Animas River, which carried the orange-tinted water past the towns of Silverton and Durango and into New Mexico and the Navajo Reservation. At the time, the EPA said it took responsibility for the mistake and this week, the agency showed it is ready to keep its word.
That outcome wasn’t guaranteed. The tax that supported Superfund expired in 1995, so now each year the EPA must rely on Congress to appropriate enough money to handle the workload. In effect, hundreds of toxic sites nationwide compete for limited dollars, making the EPA careful to avoid adding Superfund projects unless it finds compelling reasons. Many Coloradans feel relieved that the Bonita Peak area passed the test, landed on the Superfund list and now is eligible for whatever money Congress allocates.
The dependency on congressional action, though, underscores why top political leaders in Colorado and New Mexico should stay involved. The U.S. House and Senate will be persuaded to provide the EPA with adequate resources for the complex, long-term work only if they receive regular communication from Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat; New Mexico Gov. Suzanna Martinez, a Republican; and every member of both states’ congressional delegations.
Indeed, the really difficult work looms ahead. At least 48 mines pock-mark the Bonita Peak Mining District in the heart of the San Juan Mountains — a steep and jagged landscape that is truly spectacular even compared with Colorado’s other ranges. The scenic valley today cuddling the town of Silverton was formed by ancient volcanoes that also brought forth gold and silver and fractured the earth both at the surface and far underground. In modern times, snowy weather will delight skiers and snowmobilers and the resulting spring runoff will bring smiles to rafters and kayakers. But all that melted snow also seeps into the old volcanic cracks and abandoned mines, making the Bonita Peak District a difficult place to clean up toxic wastes.
Over the next year, the EPA will gather details about where the icy water oozes and which mines fill with dangerous liquids. That data will help the agency engineer specific plans to clean up the Gold King Mine, prevent future spills and handle vast quantities of polluted water spewing from other abandoned mines.
The Denver EPA branch also discussed an intriguing idea — championed by Silverton Town Manager Bill Gardner — with the agency’s Office of Research and Development in Washington, D.C. Instead of the old tactics of just building water-retention walls inside an individual abandoned mine, the innovative proposal would use 21st century technologies to develop a long-term, comprehensive approach to solving the Bonita Peak District’s complicated mine drainage problem. It the idea passes expert review, the EPA may implement it not only in Colorado, but also elsewhere in the Rockies.
The EPA deserved reprobation after the Gold King Mine spill, but today should get recognition for keeping its promise to list the project as a national Superfund priority. Continued political leadership, adequate funding, good engineering and new ideas may solve the problem in southwestern Colorado and draw greater attention to the need to fix the abandoned mine waste mess across the West.
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