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Show Tailings clean up completed as officials continue to fight EPA intervention i ii i j.1 o r i . i wiv-t m i !The project to cover the abandoned abandon-ed mine tailings pond and stabilize , the channel of Silver Creek through the area is about 60 percent complete com-plete according to project engineers.- The top soil cap is in place throughout the residential area, and planting is complete. In the commercial area, where the project includes installation of street lighting, planters, benches, and other "street furniture" in addition to the soil cap, the project has been slightly slower due to the underground utility work. There, the soil cap is in place, but planting may not be completed until spring. Installation of lighting and other surface improvements will be completed com-pleted next spring. The stream channel improvements im-provements started this week, and when complete will line Silver Creek with a rock "rip-rap" that Community challenge will eliminate erosion of the tailings tail-ings into the stream and prevent undercutting of the banks. Near the east city limits, at the lower end of the tailings area, a detention and settlement pond will be constructed con-structed next summer to allow an area for any tailings to settle out before the storm runoff drains back into Silver Creek. The project, known as the Prospector Pro-spector Special Improvement District, will result in the expenditure expen-diture of about $1,375 million in the area. Financing is provided through a Special Improvement District, which issued bonds that are paid over ten years by special assessments on me area piupei lies. The District was formed at the request re-quest of area property owners who were concerned about a potential public health hazard resulting from contact with the mine tailings that underlie the area. The tailings contain high concentrations of lead, cadmium, arsenic, and other heavy metals. Extensive testing by the State and County Health Departments Depart-ments discounted any immediate health hazard to area residents, but very little is known about long term contact. The Environment Protection Agency became involved in the area at the request of the State Health Department. EPA was primarily concerned with the unknown extent of migration of the tailings through ground water, and has proposed the area for listing on the National Priority List, more commonly known as the aupenuna lisx. rsasea on cm s track record with similar mining sites in the West, we decided we better take action locally," said city manager Arlene Loble. Loble noted that EPA has been unable to refer to a single mining site that has been taken beyond the study stage in the program's five year history. "After spending a fortune on testing, they sue the property owner to recover the funds. So far, they have never removed a tailings site from the list. That kind of federal help we don't need." On a nearly identical site in Colorado, Col-orado, EPA has studied the site for three years, and has now given local authorities there a preliminary indication that a Prospector Pro-spector style top soil cap is probably pro-bably the solution to that problem, although no action will be taken until at least the summer of 1986 on the Colorado site. |