Since at least 2011, the EPA has tried to designate Silverton as a Superfund site in order to investigate and clean up the town’s problem with toxins in mines.
Mines above Silverton have leached so many toxic chemicals into the Animas that several species of indigenous fish and insects to the river have all but disappeared.
According to a Durango Herald story from April 22, 2014, Silverton still had the largest untreated mine drainage in Colorado. Despite this well-known fact, stakeholders from Silverton have continually rebuffed EPA’s concerns and offers to help clean up the mining sites with a Superfund designation due to the fear of a stigma that would keep tourists, and laughably, mining development away. Had they taken the watershed and the downstream stakeholders more seriously, the disaster last week may not have happened.
The stigma of Superfund involvement is misguided. Studies have shown Superfund sites increase residential property values 18.6 percent to 24.5 percent within three miles of a site; site cleanups provided billions in sales and income revenues in just 450 sites in 2014; and more importantly, reduce the incidence of birth defects within a mile of a site.
Mining waste in Colorado is a serious problem that hasn’t been addressed adequately by the EPA and other government agencies. Part of the problem is that the federal mining law of 1872 has not changed since its inception. The 1872 Mining Law covers all hard-rock mining on public – your and my – lands, and has no environmental provisions. This gives mining companies the right to drill for practically free, pollute waterways with some regulation under the Clean Water Act and close operations without a shred of responsibility to watersheds and their flora and fauna.
Only through a Superfund designation can toxins from mines be truly cleaned up. The EPA was trying to stop the leak at the Gold King Mine site, puncturing an unknown reservoir of toxic sludge. A Superfund investigation may have found that reservoir years ago. It’s time for Silverton to cooperate with the EPA before more harm is done to the Animas watershed.
Heather Whitney-Williams
Boulder
