Anyone remember the Summitville Disaster?
The people of Rio Grande County do. Twenty years ago the Canadian mining operation at Summitville declared bankruptcy and walked off, leaving a moonscape with piles of cyanide treated rubble draining acidic, mineral and cyanide laden water into streams and ground water, rendering the Alamosa River lifeless and the downstream users and well owners out of luck.
250 million taxpayer dollars later the site is somewhat remediated. A $16 million water treatment plant provided by the 2009 stimulus is allowing the river to recover, a process the EPA estimates will require 100 years. The mining company paid not one penny of the $250 million in gold it extracted to the citizens of the United States, thanks to the archaic mining law of 1872. Under this law mining proposals cannot be denied, and provisions of the Clean Water Act do not apply. Some environmental review does remain in the permitting process.
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