Douglas County to consider Superfund designation for mine

Monday, Aug. 16, 1999 | 12:38 p.m.

The county commission will consider at Thursday's meeting whether to ask the Environmental Protection Agency to list Leviathan Mine as a Superfund site.

Commissioner Bernie Curtis said the designation has his vote after the deplorable conditions he saw on a visit to the mine.

Last month, EPA regional administrator Felicia Marcus granted a request by California officials to delay potential listing of the mine as a Superfund site until October. The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board wants the summer to test a new $1 million effort to chemically treat toxic mine drainage.

"If the state has confidence they can take a crack at it, there's nothing wrong with that," said Brian Wallace, chairman of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. Ultimately, Wallace said, he's certain Leviathan will wind up on the Superfund list.

There can be no delay in addressing a problem, Wallace said.

"It's a critical issue to address now and not later," Wallace said. "It's severely damaged and rendered unusable a good part of the reservation. It also represents a substantial human health risk."

The once-underground mine produced copper sulfate from 1863 until 1872, then was re-opened for a six-year period to produce sulfur beginning in 1935. From the 1950s to early 1960s, open pit mining was used to extract sulfur until the mine was finally shut down in 1962.

Runoff laden with a toxic soup of acid and heavy metals drains into Leviathan Creek, then into Bryant Creek and ultimately the Carson River. Efforts by the state, EPA and Atlantic Richfield Co. to correct the problem have failed.

Curtis supports the Superfund designation as a means to bring additional resources to tackle the problem.

"Obviously what they've done has not worked. It looks like a moonscape and Bryant Creek is dead," Curtis said. "It's having an effect on the upper reaches of the Carson River. It's not a great effect but it's still a concern."