{"id":57025,"date":"2013-10-01T23:46:47","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T05:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mine-no-public-safety-concerns-2\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T15:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:58:24","slug":"mine-no-public-safety-concerns-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mine-no-public-safety-concerns-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mine: ‘No public safety concerns’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"
Tobie Baker\/Cortez Journal<br><br>Montezuma County Commissioner Larry Don Suckla listens intently as Col<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A naturopathic physician believes Mancos residents should undergo health assessments to test for volatile mercury airborne exposure as a result of an illegal gold mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cMercury is a very serious neurotoxin and carcinogen,\u201d said Lyn Patrick, ND.<\/p>\n

Patrick was one of about 10 concerned citizens to address Mancos town officials Monday, Sept. 30, during a Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety presentation. Mining officials were on hand to deliver an update on the now-closed Red Arrow gold mine operation outside of town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to catch everyone up on the regulatory process,\u201d the mining agency\u2019s director Loretta Pineda told some three-dozen residents in attendance.<\/p>\n

During the 70-minute Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety slideshow exposition, which included a question-and-answer session, Patrick gasped when a photo of the Red Arrow operations ventilation system appeared on the screen. The rudimentary system included a large metal bucket with lead plumber\u2019s pipe to catch escaping mercury fumes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m worried we were all seriously exposed to these vapors from this Mickey Mouse turned upside down vent hood,\u201d Patrick proclaimed. \u201cWe need funding for health assessments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety officials closed the Red Arrow gold mine some nine miles northeast of Mancos along with a milling operation just outside of town limits on Grand Avenue in June. Mine operator Craig Luikko was subsequently fined $335,000 for six violations, including operating a mine without a permit.<\/p>\n

Mancos resident Travis Custer told officials that he is concerned that ecological justice will not be served in the matter. He fears some residents, especially non-English speaking citizens, will be left in the dark.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important not to push people to the wayside,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s unacceptable, and it\u2019s something the board should take seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Rachel Simbeck told residents that town officials couldn\u2019t solve all of the problems in a single night, and the town would work to ensure all residents were properly informed of potential health risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all very concerned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Paul Schmitz, one of two Hesperus residents to make a public statement, said he fears officials could be overlooking forensic criminal actions as a result of the illegal mine. He argued the Colorado Bureau of Investigations or the Federal Bureau of Investigations should be assigned to the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not getting the whole picture,\u201d he claimed. \u201cDon\u2019t underestimate how dangerous this is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pineda tried to reassure residents, saying Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety officials do not believe the unpermitted milling operation poses any potential health risks despite groundwater about 6 feet below contaminated mill tailings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe issued a cease-and-desist order, and there\u2019s no mining activity ongoing,\u201d Pineda said. \u201cWe\u2019re sure there are no public safety concerns for Mancos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety official Steve Renner told residents that a certified Environmental Protection Agency lab confirmed that preliminary samples contained both mercury and arsenic.<\/p>\n

Officials estimate more than 1,300 cubic yards of solid materials and more than 2,500 gallons of liquid ingredients were contaminated and will need to be removed to a hazardous material landfill or buried onsite.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be working closely with EPA officials in coming weeks to do more precise sampling,\u201d Renner said.<\/p>\n

Because of the federal government shutdown, some 16,000 EPA employees have been whittled down to about 1,000, according to a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.<\/p>\n

Montezuma County Commissioner Larry Don Suckla said local officials are committed to a speedy cleanup effort, but added there were potential funding concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wants to pay for this,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need our federal agencies to help us, and get this stuff out of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Questions emailed to Luikko\u2019s attorney were not returned as of press time.<\/p>\n

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

officials present update about Red Arrow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[174,13,398,83],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-57025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-environmental-cleanup","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-gold-and-precious-material","tag-mancos"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57025","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=57025"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62731,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57025\/revisions\/62731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57025"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=57025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}