{"id":793292,"date":"2019-02-20T16:40:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T23:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/arsenic-lead-in-water-pouring-out-of-former-us-mine-sites\/"},"modified":"2019-02-25T10:32:49","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T17:32:49","slug":"arsenic-lead-in-water-pouring-out-of-former-us-mine-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/arsenic-lead-in-water-pouring-out-of-former-us-mine-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenic, lead in water pouring out of former US mine sites"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-359967-363\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, water contaminated with arsenic, lead and zinc flows from a pipe out of the Lee Mountain mine and into a holding pond near Rimini, Mont. The community is part of the Upper Tenmile Creek Superfund site, where dozens of abandoned mines have left water supplies polluted and residents must use bottled water. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c.jpg\" alt=\"In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, water contaminated with arsenic, lead and zinc flows from a pipe out of the Lee Mountain mine and into a holding pond near Rimini, Mont. The community is part of the Upper Tenmile Creek Superfund site, where dozens of abandoned mines have left water supplies polluted and residents must use bottled water. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"15\">\n<p><strong>In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, water contaminated with arsenic, lead and zinc flows from a pipe out of the Lee Mountain mine and into a holding pond near Rimini, Mont. The community is part of the Upper Tenmile Creek Superfund site, where dozens of abandoned mines have left water supplies polluted and residents must use bottled water. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, water contaminated with arsenic, lead and zinc flows from a pipe out of the Lee Mountain mine and into a holding pond near Rimini, Mont. The community is part of the Upper Tenmile Creek Superfund site, where dozens of abandoned mines have left water supplies polluted and residents must use bottled water. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-1.jpg\" alt=\"In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, water contaminated with arsenic, lead and zinc flows from a pipe out of the Lee Mountain mine and into a holding pond near Rimini, Mont. The community is part of the Upper Tenmile Creek Superfund site, where dozens of abandoned mines have left water supplies polluted and residents must use bottled water. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"15\">\n<p><strong>In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, water contaminated with arsenic, lead and zinc flows from a pipe out of the Lee Mountain mine and into a holding pond near Rimini, Mont. The community is part of the Upper Tenmile Creek Superfund site, where dozens of abandoned mines have left water supplies polluted and residents must use bottled water. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | FR170197 AP | Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, receives a bottled water delivery at her home in Rimini, Mont., by Bart Young of Big Spring Water on Feb. 18, 2019. About 30 households can\u2019t drink their tap water because groundwater was polluted by about 150 abandoned gold, lead and copper mines that operated from the 1870s until 1953. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-2.jpg\" alt=\"Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, receives a bottled water delivery at her home in Rimini, Mont., by Bart Young of Big Spring Water on Feb. 18, 2019. About 30 households can\u2019t drink their tap water because groundwater was polluted by about 150 abandoned gold, lead and copper mines that operated from the 1870s until 1953. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"16\">\n<p><strong>Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, receives a bottled water delivery at her home in Rimini, Mont., by Bart Young of Big Spring Water on Feb. 18, 2019. About 30 households can\u2019t drink their tap water because groundwater was polluted by about 150 abandoned gold, lead and copper mines that operated from the 1870s until 1953. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)<\/strong><br \/>AP | FR170197 AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | FR170197 AP | Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, receives a bottled water delivery at her home in Rimini, Mont., by Bart Young of Big Spring Water on Feb. 18, 2019. About 30 households can\u2019t drink their tap water because groundwater was polluted by about 150 abandoned gold, lead and copper mines that operated from the 1870s until 1953. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-3.jpg\" alt=\"Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, receives a bottled water delivery at her home in Rimini, Mont., by Bart Young of Big Spring Water on Feb. 18, 2019. About 30 households can\u2019t drink their tap water because groundwater was polluted by about 150 abandoned gold, lead and copper mines that operated from the 1870s until 1953. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"16\">\n<p><strong>Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, receives a bottled water delivery at her home in Rimini, Mont., by Bart Young of Big Spring Water on Feb. 18, 2019. About 30 households can\u2019t drink their tap water because groundwater was polluted by about 150 abandoned gold, lead and copper mines that operated from the 1870s until 1953. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)<\/strong><br \/>AP | FR170197 AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-4-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-4.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | FR170197 AP | Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, washes dishes in her home in Rimini, Mont., on Feb. 18, 2019. \u201cThe fact that bottled water is provided is great. ... Where it falls short is it\u2019s not piped into our home. Water that\u2019s piped into our home is still contaminated water. Washing dishes and bathing _ that metal-laden water is still running through our pipes,\u201d she says. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-4.jpg\" alt=\"Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, washes dishes in her home in Rimini, Mont., on Feb. 18, 2019. \u201cThe fact that bottled water is provided is great. ... Where it falls short is it\u2019s not piped into our home. Water that\u2019s piped into our home is still contaminated water. Washing dishes and bathing _ that metal-laden water is still running through our pipes,\u201d she says. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"16\">\n<p><strong>Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, washes dishes in her home in Rimini, Mont., on Feb. 18, 2019. \u201cThe fact that bottled water is provided is great. &#8230; Where it falls short is it\u2019s not piped into our home. Water that\u2019s piped into our home is still contaminated water. Washing dishes and bathing _ that metal-laden water is still running through our pipes,\u201d she says. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)<\/strong><br \/>AP | FR170197 AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-5-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-5.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | FR170197 AP | Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, washes dishes in her home in Rimini, Mont., on Feb. 18, 2019. \u201cThe fact that bottled water is provided is great. ... Where it falls short is it\u2019s not piped into our home. Water that\u2019s piped into our home is still contaminated water. Washing dishes and bathing _ that metal-laden water is still running through our pipes,\u201d she says. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"10.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-5.jpg\" alt=\"Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, washes dishes in her home in Rimini, Mont., on Feb. 18, 2019. \u201cThe fact that bottled water is provided is great. ... Where it falls short is it\u2019s not piped into our home. Water that\u2019s piped into our home is still contaminated water. Washing dishes and bathing _ that metal-laden water is still running through our pipes,\u201d she says. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"16\">\n<p><strong>Catherine Maynard, a natural resource analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, washes dishes in her home in Rimini, Mont., on Feb. 18, 2019. \u201cThe fact that bottled water is provided is great. &#8230; Where it falls short is it\u2019s not piped into our home. Water that\u2019s piped into our home is still contaminated water. Washing dishes and bathing _ that metal-laden water is still running through our pipes,\u201d she says. (AP Photo\/Janie Osborne)<\/strong><br \/>AP | FR170197 AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-6-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-6.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, Tillman McAdams with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency speaks about cleanup work at the Susie mine in Rimini, Mont., as polluted water from the mine flows near his feet. The mine is one of dozens that have fouled water supplies in the mountain community. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"9.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-6.jpg\" alt=\"In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, Tillman McAdams with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency speaks about cleanup work at the Susie mine in Rimini, Mont., as polluted water from the mine flows near his feet. The mine is one of dozens that have fouled water supplies in the mountain community. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"14\">\n<p><strong>In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, Tillman McAdams with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency speaks about cleanup work at the Susie mine in Rimini, Mont., as polluted water from the mine flows near his feet. The mine is one of dozens that have fouled water supplies in the mountain community. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-7-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-7.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"AP | AP | In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, Tillman McAdams with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency speaks about cleanup work at the Susie mine in Rimini, Mont., as polluted water from the mine flows near his feet. The mine is one of dozens that have fouled water supplies in the mountain community. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"9.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-7.jpg\" alt=\"In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, Tillman McAdams with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency speaks about cleanup work at the Susie mine in Rimini, Mont., as polluted water from the mine flows near his feet. The mine is one of dozens that have fouled water supplies in the mountain community. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"14\">\n<p><strong>In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, Tillman McAdams with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency speaks about cleanup work at the Susie mine in Rimini, Mont., as polluted water from the mine flows near his feet. The mine is one of dozens that have fouled water supplies in the mountain community. (AP Photo\/Matthew Brown)<\/strong><br \/>AP | AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-8.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-8.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-8 |\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/02\/Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-8.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p>Hazardous_Mines_11071-3f39c-8<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">RIMINI, Mont. \u2014 Every day many millions of gallons of water loaded with arsenic, lead and other toxic metals flow from some of the most contaminated mining sites in the U.S. and into surrounding streams and ponds without being treated, The Associated Press has found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That torrent is poisoning aquatic life and tainting drinking water sources in Montana, California, Colorado, Oklahoma and at least five other states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The pollution is a legacy of how the mining industry was allowed to operate in the U.S. for more than a century. Companies that built mines for silver, lead, gold and other \u201chardrock\u201d minerals could move on once they were no longer profitable, leaving behind tainted water that still leaks out of the mines or is cleaned up at taxpayer expense. Using data from public records requests and independent researchers, the AP examined 43 mining sites under federal oversight, some containing dozens or even hundreds of individual mines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The records show that at average flows, more than 50 million gallons of contaminated wastewater streams daily from the sites. In many cases, it runs untreated into nearby groundwater, rivers and ponds \u2014 a roughly 20-million-gallon daily dose of pollution that could fill more than 2,000 tanker trucks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The remainder of the waste is captured or treated in a costly effort that will need to carry on indefinitely, for perhaps thousands of years, often with little hope for reimbursement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The volumes vastly exceed the release from Colorado\u2019s Gold King Mine disaster in 2015, when a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup crew inadvertently triggered the release of 3 million gallons of mustard-colored mine sludge, fouling rivers in three states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">At many mines, the pollution has continued decades after their enlistment in the federal Superfund cleanup program for the nation\u2019s most hazardous sites, which faces sharp cuts under President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Federal officials have raised fears that at least six of the sites examined by AP could have blowouts like the one at Gold King.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Some sites feature massive piles or impoundments of mine waste known as tailings. A tailings dam collapse in Brazil last month killed at least 169 people and left 140 missing. A similar 2014 accident in British Columbia swept millions of cubic yards of contaminated mud into a nearby lake, resulting in one of Canada\u2019s worst environmental disasters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But even short of a calamitous accident, many mines pose the chronic problem of relentless pollution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">AP also found mining sites where untreated water harms the environment or threatens drinking water supplies in North and South Carolina, Vermont, Missouri and Oregon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">TAINTED WELLS<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In mountains outside the Montana capital of Helena, about 30 households can\u2019t drink their tap water because groundwater was polluted by about 150 abandoned gold, lead and copper mines that operated from the 1870s until 1953.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The community of Rimini was added to the Superfund list in 1999. Contaminated soil in residents\u2019 yards was replaced, and the EPA has provided bottled water for a decade. But polluted water still pours from the mines and into Upper Tenmile Creek.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe fact that bottled water is provided is great,\u201d said 30-year Rimini resident Catherine Maynard, a natural resources analyst for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. \u201cWhere it falls short is it\u2019s not piped into our home. Water that\u2019s piped into our home is still contaminated water. Washing dishes and bathing \u2014 that metal-laden water is still running through our pipes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Estimates of the number of such abandoned mine sites range from 161,000 in 12 western states to as many as 500,000 nationwide. At least 33,000 have degraded the environment, according to the Government Accountability Office, and thousands more are discovered every year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Officials have yet to complete work including basic risk analyses on about 80 percent of abandoned mining sites on federal lands. Most are controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, which under Trump is seeking to consolidate mine cleanups with another program and cut their combined 2019 spending from $35 million to $13 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">PERPETUAL POLLUTION<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Problems at some sites are intractable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Among them:<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u2014 In eastern Oklahoma\u2019s Tar Creek mining district, waterways are devoid of life and elevated lead levels persist in the blood of children despite a two-decade effort to clean up lead and zinc mines. More than $300 million has been committed since 1983, but only a small fraction of the impacted land has been reclaimed and contaminated water continues to flow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u2014 At northern California\u2019s Iron Mountain Mine, cleanup teams battle to contain highly acidic water that percolates through a former copper and zinc mine and drains into a Sacramento River tributary. The mine discharged six tons of toxic sludge daily before an EPA cleanup. Authorities now spend $5 million a year to remove poisonous sludge that had caused massive fish kills, and they expect to keep at it forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u2014 In Colorado\u2019s San Juan Mountains, site of the Gold King blowout, some 400 abandoned or inactive mine sites contribute an estimated 15 million gallons of acid mine drainage per day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">AP also found mining sites where untreated water harms the environment or threatens drinking water supplies in North and South Carolina, Vermont, Missouri and Oregon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">This landscape of polluted sites occurred under mining industry rules largely unchanged since the 1872 Mining Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">State and federal laws in recent decades have held companies more accountable than in the past, but critics say huge loopholes all but ensure that some of today\u2019s mines will foul waterways or require perpetual cleanups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">To avoid a catastrophe like Gold King, EPA officials now require advance approval for work on many mining sites. But they acknowledge they\u2019re only dealing with a small portion of the problem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe have been trying to play a very careful game of prioritization,\u201d said Dana Stalcup, deputy director of the Superfund program. \u201cWe know the Superfund program is not the answer to the hundreds of thousands of mines out there, but the mines we are working on we want to do them the best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The 43 sites examined by AP are mining locations for which officials and researchers have reliable estimates of polluted water releases. Officials said flow rates at the sites vary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Average flows were unavailable for nine sites that only had high and low estimates of how much polluted water flowed out. For those sites, the AP used the lower estimates for its analysis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">QUESTIONS OVER WHO SHOULD PAY<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">To date, the EPA has spent an estimated $4 billion on mining cleanups. Under Trump, the agency has identified a small number of Superfund sites for heightened attention after cleanup efforts stalled or dragged on for years. They include five mining sites examined by AP.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Former EPA assistant administrator Mathy Stanislaus said more money is needed to address mining pollution on a systematic basis, rather than jumping from one emergency response to another.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe piecemeal approach is just not working,\u201d said Stanislaus, who oversaw the Superfund program for almost eight years ending in 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Democrats have sought unsuccessfully to create a special cleanup fund for old hardrock mine sites, with fees paid by the mining industry. Such a fund has been in place for coal mines since 1977, with more than $11 billion in fees collected and hundreds of sites reclaimed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The mining industry has resisted doing the same for hardrock mines, and Republicans in Congress have blocked the Democratic proposals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Montana Mining Association director Tammy Johnson acknowledged abandoned mines have left a legacy of pollution, but added that companies still in operation should not be forced to pay for those problems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cBack in the day there really wasn\u2019t a lot known about acid mine drainage,\u201d she said. \u201cI just don\u2019t think that today\u2019s companies bear the responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In 2017, the EPA proposed requiring companies still operating mines to post cleanup bonds or offer other financial assurances so taxpayers don\u2019t end up footing cleanup bills. The Trump administration halted the rule, but environmental groups are scheduled to appear in federal court next month in a lawsuit that seeks to revive it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhen something gets on a Superfund site, that doesn\u2019t mean it instantly and magically gets cleaned up,\u201d said Earthjustice attorney Amanda Goodin. \u201cHaving money immediately available from a responsible party would be a game changer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/arsenic-lead-in-water-pouring-out-of-former-us-mine-sites\/\" target=\"_blank\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this Oct. 12, 2018 photo, water contaminated with arsenic, lead and zinc flows from a pipe out of the Lee Mountain mine and into a holding pond near Rimini, Mont. The community is part of the Upper Tenmile Creek Superfund site, where dozens of abandoned mines have left water supplies polluted and residents must [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-793292","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 19:24:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}