An deserted Shasta County mine that produces poisonous air pollution at about 1,200 instances the allowable commonplace has been named a U.S. Environmental Safety Company Superfund cleanup web site.
The Afterthought Mine, positioned about 25 miles east of Redding close to Freeway 299, was positioned on the checklist Wednesday due to the metals and extremely acidic water that flows from the mine and close by Little Cow Creek, which is a tributary to the Sacramento River, in response to the EPA.
When mine employees dug into the hills close to the mine, the minerals that had been uncovered to the air and water grew to become an acid that has continued to circulate from the tunnels for many years, stated John Hillenbrand, an EPA mission supervisor.
The answer coming from the mine is “pure acid” that is akin to battery acid, he stated.
“So it is actually nasty stuff. After which it leaches out all of the metals, they usually come out the mine tunnel and dumps them into the river, on this case little Cow Creek proper there will get the sort of brunt of it. So that is acid mine drainage, proper? And it simply comes out on daily basis, 24 hours a day. It varies in quantity, 250 gallons a minute or extra can come out of this factor and go proper into the creek,” Hillenbrand stated.
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Along with the acid, the water is “just about loaded with copper and cadmium, zinc and arsenic,” Hillenbrand stated.
“Downstream of the positioning, the floor water and sediments in Little Cow Creek are contaminated with cadmium, copper, and zinc at ranges roughly 100 instances, 1,200 instances and 1,000 instances, respectively, above the California Toxics Rule Water High quality Standards for acute threat,” in response to an outline of the mine on the EPA’s web site.
Naming the mine a Superfund web site places the world on a path to cleanup, Hillenbrand stated. The company will spend the following three to 5 years learning the mine and flows from the tunnels to find out one of the best technique for treating the water.
“However this is considered one of our objectives: We strive to not construct issues that want plenty of pumps and other people and electrical energy as a result of that is costly. So, if we are able to spend a bit additional time and make it passive — that means, like pure micro organism filtering techniques — we choose to try this,” Hillenbrand stated.
The therapy will go on for presumably a whole bunch of years, he stated, “as a result of this web site won’t ever cease producing water, ever. It will simply go on in perpetuity, for hundreds of years. So we need to attempt to get it proper.”
Along with treating the water, the contaminated rocks on the web site will have to be hauled away and coated up so they’re now not a menace to the setting, he stated.
In Little Cow Creek, the water stays dangerous to fish and people mustn’t drink it or are available contact inside the quick space, Hillenbrand stated. The water is diluted by the creek downstream and doesn’t pose an issue to people. Individuals mustn’t cross the creek from Freeway 299 to the place the water flows from the mine, he stated.
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“The financial institution closest to the mine, most likely the ten% or 15% of it alongside the sting there, is orange proper because the water’s mixing acid in with the river. So if I used to be a fish, I would not need to swim over there. I would swim on the other facet of the creek,” Hillenbrand stated.
The present property house owners didn’t develop the mine so they don’t have to pay for the cleanup, he stated. Taxpayers will foot the invoice for the cleanup, he stated. Hillenbrand didn’t have an estimate of the associated fee to deal with the water.
The Afterthought Mine turns into the second Superfund web site within the county. The Iron Mountain Mine, which sits on 4,400 acres northwest of Redding, has been on the EPA’s checklist since 1983.
Hillenbrand stated the services used to deal with the water at Iron Mountain are extra elaborate and intensive than will possible be crucial for the Afterthought Mine.
The EPA’s web site pages on Iron Mountain Mine says that “Earlier than cleanup, the acidic metal-rich water nearly eradicated aquatic life in native creeks and precipitated periodic fish kills within the Sacramento River.”
Hillenbrand stated Iron Mountain mine’s air pollution ranges are a lot worse than the Afterthought Mine.
“There may be nothing worse than Iron Mountain Mine in your entire nation. Iron Mountain Mine is sort of a 1,000 instances larger than this mine. It (the water within the mine) has a destructive pH, so it has a pH of like minus 2 or 3. It is unbelievable how unhealthy it’s,” he stated, describing the mine water’s acidity.
The pH of most ingesting water lies inside the vary of 6.5 to eight.5, the World Well being Group says.1
The Afterthought Mine was first developed in 1862 and continued to function till 1952. Remnants of the mine, together with wood buildings, can nonetheless be seen from Freeway 299 within the tiny group of Ingot, east of Redding.
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The EPA stated 166,424 tons of ore, 10,730,580 kilos of copper, 23,635,840 kilos of zinc, 1,738,300 kilos of lead, 923,653 ounces of silver and 4,992 ounces of gold had been taken from the mine.
The remnants of an inactive smelter related to the mine, known as the Afterthought Smelter, is positioned a couple of mile downstream from the mine web site, the EPA stated.
Shasta County Supervisor Mary Rickert, whose district contains the mine, stated she had heard concerning the proposed cleanup and stated she was glad it was named a Superfund web site.
She stated Little Cow Creek, which receives the poisonous mine drainage, “drops into Cow Creek after which it goes by way of plenty of residential, properties, and it impacts lots of people, and your cattle are ingesting out of the creeks. So I feel it is one thing that’s most likely lengthy overdue.”
Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story suggestions at 530-338-8834, by e mail at damon.arthur@redding.com and on X, previously often called Twitter, at @damonarthur_RS. Assist native journalism thrive by subscribing today!
This text initially appeared on Redding Report Searchlight: Shasta County mine with ‘pure acid’ water now an EPA Superfund site
