Toxic Free Future Reports
Search
•
RSS Feed
Executive Summary
A century of mining in Washington
has left a legacy of 3,800 abandoned hardrock mine sites scattered throughout
the state. These abandoned mines pollute our streams and rivers, pose a threat
to public safety and health, destroy fisheries, and contaminate important groundwater
resources.
Lead, mercury and other
heavy metals leaching from mine sites build up in the environment. Every day,
Washington watersheds receive a new dose of arsenic and toxic run-off from abandoned
mines. Unless stopped, this pollution can continue indefinitely. Unfortunately,
many of the corporations responsible for the contamination and liable for cleanup
costs have dissolved or gone bankrupt.
Today, state and federal
agencies in Washington face the challenge of addressing abandoned mine safety
and environmental issues at a time of limited agency resources and potential
budget cuts, and without a comprehensive inventory of mining sites in the state.
While some information on
abandoned mines lands is available from state, local and federal agencies, there
has not yet been an adequately funded, statewide coordinated effort to address
abandoned mine lands in Washington, nor a completed central database of all
abandoned mine information in the state. According to a 2000 Department of Ecology
report, there is "almost no data available to evaluate the extent of the
problem."
The risks associated with
this lack of knowledge may increase as the state's population moves into high-density
abandoned mine areas such as the Cascade Foothills in Snohomish County and the
Okanogan Highlands. The longer this problem is left unaddressed, the worse the
contamination will be, and the more likely it is that taxpayers, rather than
the polluting industry, will be forced to fund the clean up.
The purpose of this report
is to provide a comprehensive picture of the extent of the abandoned mine land
problem in Washington, to set forth what has been done thus far to address the
problem, and to point out what should be done in the future to ensure adequate
funding and a more efficient allocation of resources for the inventory and clean
up of these sites.
Program Recommendation:
To adequately protect human health and the environment, the WashPIRG Foundation
recommends that federal and state land management agencies work together to:
- Establish an interagency
Abandoned Mine Task Force
Only by coordinating efforts can the various agencies effectively address the
cumulative impact from mining contamination on various state and federal lands
within a watershed. Moreover, coordination of efforts may ensure that maximization
of scarce resources, and reduce costly duplication of effort.
- Complete an inventory
of the 541 most significant abandoned mines
The Abandoned Mine Task Force should allocate all available resources to completion
of the inventory of the state's 541 most significant mines. The inventory should
be completed at the earliest possible date to ensure that currently viable companies
liable for the pollution do not dissolve or become bankrupt before they are
identified and held accountable. Agencies should make the information in this
inventory available to the public and conduct outreach danger in the most highly
impacted communities to warn citizens of any potential public health risks.
- Apply available funds
to coordinate cleanup efforts by watershed
The Task Force should prioritize, watershed by watershed, specific water bodies
within each state that are affected by discharges from the identified mines.
This "watershed approach" should be a collaborative effort in recognition
of the potential for combined impacts on watersheds resulting from runoff from
mines on federal, state and tribal lands. Once these watersheds are prioritized,
agencies should proceed with a coordinated watershed cleanup program.
Funding Recommendation:
To fund this effort, WashPIRG Foundation joins dozens of organizations across
the Western States to recommend federal legislation that would:
- Establish a national variable
reclamation fee on large scale mineral producers, based on the producer's profits
from mineral extraction on federal land;
- Create a trust fund with
these fees, which would help pay for both the initial inventory and the cleanup
of abandoned hardrock mines across Washington and the other western states.
|
