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<br /> <br />l\1l.f\ANGO HERALD <br />\\,)1 Durango, CO <br />r II aJ (La Plata County) <br />J Dally, 10,040 <br /> <br />Colorado Press <br />Clipping Service <br /> <br />. 1336GlenarmPlace_ Denver. CO 80204 <br />.103-571-5117. FA-X 303-571-1803 <br /> <br />o <br />o <br />N <br />r',J <br />~'::J <br />-:J <br /> <br />River: Simon says toxic metals particularly harmful to aquatic life <br /> <br />Conlimred from lB. cenr of toxic runoff from mining <br />sources in the watershed. Runoff <br />grass-roots effort to solve a local carrying cadmium, iron, copper, <br />problem," Wanner said. aluminum, manganese and zinc <br />A survey conducted by the taints land and water. Naturally <br />stakeholders indicates there are occurring runoff is of less con- <br />1,500 mining sites at Silverton or cern because' it contains largely <br />above. Mining the area started in iron and aluminum, Simon Said. . <br />the 1870s. It finally sputtered to a The toxic metals are particu- <br />halt around 1949. . larly .hannful'to aquatic life, Si- <br />Ooser examination "of ;200 mon said. <br />abandoned mine drainages and a "Cement '.Creek doesn:t have <br />similar number of. mine-waste . any. aquatic life and maybe never <br />sites produced a list of 33 drain- had," $imon said. "Upper;Min- <br />ing tunnels and 34 'waste. sites, eral. Creek is' essentially a dead <br />and most require remediation. .. stream." .' <br />Liability is related to drainage . There is no danger to Silverton <br />tunnels, Simon said. Toxic waste residents. because they. have <br />piles can be remoVed or capped to :'" 'sources of clean water. Concen- <br />prevent contact with water. '. i trations of metals in water drawn <br />The 67 sites identified by the from" the Animas River for con- <br />stakeholders account for 90 per-. sumption'in Durango is'diIuted <br /> <br />~~& <br /> <br />enough to present no danger. <br />Also, the city treats its water. <br />Only two of- the 33 draining <br />adits, or mining tunnels, can be <br />remediated without the liability <br />protection that a Good Samaritan <br />bill would provide, Simon said. <br />Butler s;lid that Sunnyside <br />Gold Mine, owned by Kinross <br />Gold Corp., independently has <br />been cl~aning up mines around <br />Silverton:' that were .closed in <br />1991. <br />Earlier attempts to produce a <br />national' Good Samaritan pro- <br />. gram for mine cleanup were de- <br />railed by differences between the <br />expectations of industry and en- <br />. virorumintal interests, Simon said. <br />Environmentalists feared that <br />cleanup would be only partially <br />completed. Industry .worried <br /> <br />about regulations and not being <br />given liability protection. . <br />The stakeholders' model legis- <br />lation, based on a failed proposal <br />put fOIWard at the 1998 Western <br />Governors Conference, falls in <br />between, Butler said. <br />Camden Hubbard, a Campbell <br />spokeswoman in Washington, <br />couldn't say which way her boss' <br />bill will go. "It's expected to <br />change as it makes its way <br />through the legislative process," <br />she said. <br />Simon said it's not possible to <br />demonstrate statistically the ben- <br />efits of reducing mine waste. But <br />he said trends are evident, includ- <br />ing improvement in the quality of <br />Animas River water and in- <br />creased tront reproduction in cer- <br />tain stretches of the river. <br /> <br />Thursday, October 2,2003 <br /> <br />John Peel, Features Editor 0 375.4586 0 jpeel@durangoherald.com <br /> <br />~'f'nlln~ Anim~~~~ cleanlln should be test <br />