Colorado: Peru Creek cleanup to hit high gear

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Agencies ready to tackle acid mine drainage at abandoned Pennsylvania Mine

USGS and EPA scientists take earth and water samples below the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine in Summit County, Colorado.

USGS and EPA scientists take earth and water samples below the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine in Summit County, Colorado. Bob Berwyn photo.

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Tainted water at the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine.

By Bob Berwyn

*Extensive Summit Voice coverage of the Pennsylvania Mine is online here.

SUMMIT COUNTY — Nearly a century after miners finished digging millions of dollars worth of silver, lead and zinc out of the Pennsylvania Mine, heavy machinery will once again rumble through the high alpine Peru Creek Valley.

But instead of burrowing deep into the ground to find precious metals, the workers this time will be trying to clean up the big mess left behind when the mine was abandoned. For decades, water coursing through the mine shafts has been dissolving minerals, resulting in acid mine drainage that pollutes Peru Creek and the Snake River. Concentrations of some metals, especially zinc, are high enough to kill trout.

After years of studying the mine, experts with federal and state agencies now say they are ready to try and tackle the pollution. They will provide details on the cleanup plan at the May 29 meeting of the Snake River Watershed Task Force. The public meeting is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Keystone Center, 1628 St. John Road, Keystone. (more…)

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Udall visits Summit County to tout new mine cleanup rules

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Pollution from an abandoned mine turned the Blue River bright orange in April 2006. Bob Berwyn photo.

Public event planned Jan. 18 near Breckenridge

By Bob Berwyn

FRISCO — Around the West, there are thousands of abandoned mines polluting streams and killing fish, and many volunteer cleanup efforts have been stymied by strict Clean Water Act liability provisions.

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) for years has been working with the EPA to try and make it easier for Good Samaritan groups to tackle remediation projects without taking on responsibility for future pollution. Those efforts showed results in December, when the EPA issued new guidance specifying that Good Samaritans are generally not responsible for obtaining a Clean Water Act permit during or after a successful cleanup conducted according to a Good Samaritan agreement with EPA. Read the memo here.

Udall will be in Summit County Friday (Jan. 18) along with EPA Regional Administrator Jim Martin to discuss the new policy and the public is invited to attend the event, set for 11 a.m. at the Iron Springs Mill off Boreas Pass Road. (more…)

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Colorado: Pennsylvania Mine cleanup moves ahead

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Experts will enter the mine to develop a long-term remediation plan

Pennsylvania Mine, Summit County Colorado.

The abandoned Pennsylvania Mine is the source of heavy metal pollution in Peru Creek and the Snake River.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — For the second time in a century, heavy machinery will rumble high into the Peru Creek drainage — but this time, the bulldozers, loaders and trucks will be be there to try and clean up some of the mess left behind as toxic legacy of the mining era.

Local officials say the work planned this summer at the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine is a major step in  the ongoing exploration of the mine to investigate sources of heavy metal-laden waters draining from the mine and to improve water quality in Peru Creek and the Snake River, where concentrations of heavy metals like cadmium and zinc are high enough to kill trout and impair other aquatic life.

“We are very optimistic that, after years of collaborative work, we have reached the point where we can now enter the mine to identify potential mechanisms to reduce the acid mine drainage impacting aquatic habitat in Peru Creek,” said Summit County Open Space and Trails director Brian Lorch.

Visit the Snake River Watershed Taskforce online to see a compilation of the research to-date. (more…)

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Sen. Udall seeks to ease Good Samaritan mine cleanups

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

The abandoned Pennsylvannia Mine in Summit County, Colorado, is a significant source of pollution. PHOTO BY BOB BERWYN.

Colorado lawmaker tries to rally support on Senate floor; asks EPA for relief

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Sen. Mark Udall last week renewed his efforts to find ways to enable Good Samaritans to clean up some of the many abandoned mine sites scattered around Colorado and the West.

In addition to trying to rally political support with a speech on the Senate floor, Udall sent a letter to the EPA asking for a change in policy that would give Good Samaritans some legal certainty when it comes to the liability for cleanup efforts. Senators Michael Bennet of Colorado and Barbara Boxer of California also signed the letter.

Certain legal hooks in the Clean Water Act make it challenging for volunteers, so Udall is looking for ways that would enable Good Samaritans to clean up those contaminated sites without assuming full legal liability for contamination they did not create. (more…)

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Summit County: Slow going on abandoned mine cleanup

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Drilling, along with laser and sonar probes, planned at Pennsylvania Mine this summer

Toxic metals oozing from the abandoned Pennsylvania mine pollute the waters of Peru Creek and the Snake River far downstream. PHOTO BY BOB BERWYN.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Research at the abandoned Pennsylvania Mine, high in the Peru Creek drainage, will go deeper than ever before this year, as state experts prepare to drill underground to try and get a better handle on how water moves through the tunnels of the mine and the fissures of the surrounding mountain.

The work at the mine is expected to cost between $450,000 and $800,000, according to a recent update from the Snake River Watershed Task Force. Specific projects include laser and sonar surveys in the mine workings, as well as visual inspections with a borehole camera. (more…)

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Video: Electro-shocking the Snake River, Keystone, Colo.

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Bob Berwyn

Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist Jon Ewert discusses electro-shocking

By Bob Berwyn


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SUMMIT COUNTY — Heavy metals from abandoned mines and from natural sources have contaminated the Snake River in Summit County. As part of an ongoing effort to assess the impacts, the Colorado Division of Wildlife surveys a 600-foot reach of the river each year in early August. By electro-shocking the fish, biologists are able to count the population. Most of the fish are stocked by Keystone resort since the water is too toxic to sustain much of a natural fishery.

I’ll post  a story on the results of this year’s shocking a little later. Check the links after the break for background … (more…)

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Three Snake River cleanup projects set for summer

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Bob Berwyn

Heavy metal pollution in the Snake River pollution has been under study for decades. Several cleanup projects are planned for this coming summer. PHOTO BY BOB BERWYN. Click on the image to link to a photoblog on the Snake River.

Blue River Watershed Group helps secure federal funding to reduce metals pollution in high country stream

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — With $283,000 in grant funding from the EPA, the Blue River Watershed Group will be able to tackle three different cleanup projects in the Snake River Basin this summer, taking steps toward reducing some of the toxic heavy metal pollution in the stream.

The grant funding was a direct result of watershed plan for the Snake River Basin, said Steve Swanson, the new executive director of the nonprofit group. Swanson said all three projects will be carried out in partnership with Trout Unlimited and the Summit Water Quality Committee. All the work will be passive treatment in some of the highest Snake River tributaries above Montezuma, where acid mine drainage loads the stream with zinc, cadmium and lead.

The three targets for this summer are the abandoned Silver Spoon and Brittle Silver mine sites in Cinnamon Gulch, and the abandoned Delaware Mine in Warden Gulch. In all three cases, the work will focus on moving piles of waste rock away from flowing water, or routing surface water around tailings piles to prevent contamination.

(more…)

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