{"id":120681,"date":"2014-04-28T21:47:51","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T03:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/superfund-label-stokes-silvertons-curiosity\/"},"modified":"2014-04-28T21:47:51","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T03:47:51","slug":"superfund-label-stokes-silvertons-curiosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/superfund-label-stokes-silvertons-curiosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Superfund label stokes Silverton\u2019s curiosity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Residents
Residents in Silverton are balancing the federal funding that would be available through federal Superfund designation to clean toxic water pollution from old mines with the economic hit the community would take from being branded a Superfund site. This contaminated spring, creating a toxic bank along Cement Creek north of town, is an example of the issues faced in the region.<\/span>JERRY McBRIDE\/Durango Herald file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

SILVERTON \u2013 Scientists and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency proposing Superfund designation for parts of Silverton received a sometimes skeptical grilling from San Juan County commissioners Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody is asking you to leap to designate this site as a national priority,\u201dthe agency\u2019s Region 8 Office Assistant Regional Administrator Martin Hestmark told commissioners, but he warned them that without Superfund designation, there would be no money for long-term cleanup efforts.<\/p>\n

The designation would enable the EPA to further study the Upper Animas mine basin, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestigation is important to identifying the scope of the problem. That also helps us understand what responsibility may lie with others,\u201d he said, referring to mining companies that have operated in Silverton.<\/p>\n

Hestmark said if water treatment is needed in perpetuity, the financial requirements would be so great that only Superfund designation could cover the costs.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Scott Fetchenhier asked Hestmark, \u201cWhat are the pros and cons of a Superfund designation?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the program\u2019s early days, Hestmark said, many communities were wary of the stigma of a Superfund designation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve made a lot of progress since then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The primary benefit of Superfund, he said, is to protect human health and the environment.<\/p>\n

Given the \u201cmagnitude\u201d of the contributing pollution sources, sustained, long-term funding levels for a cleanup can be assured only by assigning the area a priority status through the Superfund program, said Steve Way, also with the EPA.<\/p>\n

County Commissioner Ernest Kuhlman said fellow commissioners were proud of the Animas River Stakeholders Group, and much had been accomplished through its collaborative process.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuperfund is a collaborative effort, too,\u201d Hestmark said. \u201cIt\u2019s about enlisting the community\u2019s ideas. Collaboration doesn\u2019t go away with Superfund. The criteria is very much related to community acceptance. We\u2019re not just going to go away and come up with our own ideas and force them on the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though EPA officials were adamant they would not seek Superfund designation without Silverton\u2019s support, they were straightforward about the Animas\u2019 deteriorating water quality, warning the problems could threaten more than the ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent the entire evening tonight worrying about what\u2019s happening in the watershed,\u201d Hestmark said. \u201cRemember that in mining districts like this, our experience is that we also have to be worried whether there are any risks to human health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuhlman said, \u201cWhat\u2019s your point? Mining is a dangerous business. Always has been, still is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the commissioners need to understand is that water quality has not improved,\u201d Way said. \u201cIt\u2019s gotten worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Pete McKay said it may be possible to work with Sunnyside Gold Corp., which denies all liability for pollution, and perhaps arrive at \u201cconclusions that Sunnyside Gold and others can live with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuhlman said, \u201cSunnyside is a big player in here, as you well know, as they well know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silverton resident Melodie Skinner urged Superfund designation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I\u2019ve said for a longtime, we need clean water, jobs, an improved economy. I don\u2019t see anything else that\u2019s going to bring this much money in the county. Let\u2019s go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuhlman asked her: \u201cYou\u2019re doing it for the money?\u201d<\/p>\n

She replied, \u201cWe\u2019re doing it for the clean water.\u201d<\/p>\n

cmcallister@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

cleanup would be aided by designation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5742,5735],"tags":[174,13,239,1562,327],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-120681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","tag-environmental-cleanup","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-mining","tag-san-juan-county-colorado","tag-silverton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120681"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=120681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}