Experts have few answers on mine

Thursday, April 8, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

Angry Henderson residents who live a mile or two from an inactive mine are worried about the legacy of possible contamination that a proposed reclamation project might stir up.

Many of the 1,000 residents living within 2 miles of the mine have expressed fears that if the company disturbs the area, heavy metals will pollute the air and water. The Defense Department operated the mine from 1917 until 1961. It has been dormant since.

Hollywood Gravel Co. plans to extract gravel at the Three Kids Mine, south of Lake Mead Drive, for about 20 years. The company then plans to use the money from selling the gravel to fill the old mine and develop it as a master-planned community. During World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, the open-pit mine produced manganese, lead, arsenic and silver.

At a community meeting Wednesday night, experts hired by Hollywood Gravel had few answers to residents' concerns, explaining that they had just begun to study the area.

Hollywood Gravel asked for a permit from the Clark County Commission to begin operating at the site in February. But Commissioner Dario Herrera delayed the approval after Calico Ridge, Calico Cove and Lake Las Vegas residents protested.

Herrera said Wednesday night that he remains opposed to the project, even after hearing Hollywood Gravel's presentation. The commission is scheduled to consider the pit once again at its May 5 meeting.

"I ain't letting it happen in my district," Herrera said.

Dixie Jackson, a Hollywood Gravel representative who spoke Wednesday night, said gravel would be hauled from the site for about 20 years at a rate of 96 trucks a day. Trucks arriving at the mine would dump construction debris into the pit, she said, then leave with loads of gravel.

After that, the owners of the site would develop a master-planned community with a golf course, Paul J. Bertuccini, III, son of a property owner, said.

Bob Groesbeck, a Calico Ridge resident and former Henderson mayor, is a leading opponent. "That's absolutely unacceptable," he said.

Dennis McGarvey, vice president of Lake Las Vegas, said, "We'd rather it be left alone, rather than stirring things up."

Hollywood Gravel's environmental consultant, Robert Troisi of Ninyo & Moore, said two samples taken from old evaporation ponds along the west and northern edges of the property indicated diesel fuel, manganese, lead and arsenic.

The metals, which can cause serious health problems if inhaled or ingested, and the fuel aren't moving, Troisi said. Any contaminated soils, he said, could be shipped to industrial waste sites in Beatty or Apex, which are operated by Silver State Disposal Co.

Groesbeck, however, who is an attorney with Silver State, waved a 1995 report, signed by former Clark County Health District environmental supervisor Vic Skaar.

Now a consultant for Hollywood Gravel, Skaar at the time recommended a health study of nearby workers and children from airborne lead. A survey conducted for Lake Las Vegas, a mile north of the mine, prompted the recommendation.

Skaar insisted Wednesday night there has been no exposure to anyone. And the heavy metals probably have not reached the ground water 720 feet below the mine, he said.

Former industrial chemist Victoria Silvia, a Calico Ridge resident, demanded that the property owners pay for independent scientists to probe the mine in depth.

Jackson said Hollywood Gravel is a small company and doesn't have the deep pockets to fund such studies. The company is, however, prepared to do any required tests to satisfy permit requirements, she said.