About your story, “EPA to drill into American tunnel,” (Herald, June 22) the efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency, thus far, fail to address the fundamental problem of the source of water in the Sunnyside mine and the American tunnel.
The root problem stems from the catastrophic flooding of the mine, leading to flooding of the tunnel on Sunday afternoon, June 4, 1978.
At that time the bottom of Lake Emma collapsed into the mine 70 feet below. Lake Emma completely emptied, like pulling the plug on a bathtub.
Lake Emma was a natural lake in a glacial bowl. Runoff from the surrounding mountains which used to feed Lake Emma now flow into the natural bowl and seep into the mine tunnel below. Water no longer accumulates in what used to be a large lake; it is a dry lake bed.
The long-term solution is to find the place in the old lake bed where the water is flowing into the mine below, rather than forming a lake which existed for centuries. This “drain pipe,” no doubt loose rock and gravel, needs to be removed and the “pipe” filled with concrete, a stopper put in the bath tub.
Until that is done, water will continue to flow into the mine and will continue to contaminate the Animas River as described in the article, ruining what used to be a great fishery.
The EPA is using a band-aid doomed to fail.
Joseph D. Cheavens
Durango
