It was hard to miss the news covering the August 5 toxic mine spill near Silverton, Colorado into the Animas River, turning it a yellow-orange. The spill accidentally occurred when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was trying to cleanup wastewater from the nearby Gold King mine that had been accumulating since the mine closed in 1923.
What’s in these toxic mine spills? Typically arsenic, lead, and other pollutants, and they run downstream into other states’ waterways. There are evidently an additional 500,000 abandoned mines like Gold King all over the country which are accumulating wastewater and which could result in more toxic mine spills. Specifically, the EPA has estimated that roughly 49 percent of the river headwaters in the West are contaminated by acid mine drainage, or sulfuric acid. Some toxic mines are actually leaking heavy metals into rivers at a rate of thousands of gallons per minute—more than any state can even track.
The General Mining Law of 1872
Sadly, a very outdated law is practically encouraging the problem: The Mining Law of 1872 was passed back when the West was first being mined for gold and silver, and as a result, to this day, it encourages mining public lands for close to nothing and with very little environmental oversight. This is a problem, given that each of these cleanups costs close to $55 billion.
Arizona Rep. Grijalva has proposed legislation to modernize the law and bring reform—the Hardrock Mining Reform and Reclamation Act of 2015. The bill would levy a royalty on Hardrock mines, creating a dedicated fund for cleanup activities.
Hazards Close To Home
Although Louisiana is less known for gold and silver mining, specifically, than the western states, mines used for disposing naturally occurring radioactive material from oil and gas exploration are a serious concern here. Drilling and extracting oil and gas creates disposal issues for materials such as uranium, thorium, radium, and their decay products. Sewage plants are often unable to treat wastewater produced by fracking for natural gas, resulting in it being released to rivers and posing health risks. As a result, Gulf Coast soils are more likely to contain radioactive material.
The EPA leaves oversight of wastes produced during the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas to the states, exempting it from being covered under the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). And although the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality works to safeguard the environment, it cannot always police the hundreds of illegal chemical releases that occur annually.
In addition, salt mines used to store oil and gas drilling waste have resulted in sinkholes, leading to an evacuation order for residents in nearby homes. What’s more disturbing is that many do not realize that they are located near these disposal sites. Workers have reported finding out about their existence after working near the site, and often only through news reports.
Harrell & Nowak
Companies and landowners in Louisiana sometimes violate federal, state and local environmental laws that regulate the discharge of toxic wastes and other pollutants into the environment. Sometimes the company or person in charge decides that it’s cheaper to pollute than to prevent toxic and chemical exposure to innocent people.
Having spent years litigating against these bad actors and negligent parties, the attorneys of Harrell & Nowak are environmental hazards lawyer in New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, and other areas throughout Louisiana. Contact our office today for a free consultation