Mining industry fears federal listing of toxic releases

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 10:16 a.m.

Nevada may top the national toxic chart as the federal government requires, for the first time, hard rock mines to list hazardous releases to the environment.

With mining such a large industry in Nevada, mining officials fear that huge releases of what federal standards consider hazardous material will paint Nevada as a toxic state. Mining officials are contesting the listing of some of the materials.

While the mining companies will not release figures before Thursday, representatives said they will report 100 times the chemical amounts Nevada has reported in the past.

Factories, such as Kerr-McGee Corp., which led the state in 1997 at more than 2.2 million pounds of toxic material released, will be dwarfed by the mines' output, executives of the mining companies Barrick Goldstrike and Newmont said.

In 1997 Nevada ranked 44th in the nation on the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory with 2.6 million pounds of toxins released. Texas was the No. 1 state with 265 million pounds.

This year the mines could put Nevada at the top for releasing heavy metals, aerosols, solvents and cyanide among 24 reportable chemicals.

While the numbers are staggering, they don't mean Nevada is the most toxic state in the nation, said Robert Lee Chapman, administration manager of the Barrick Goldstrike Corp.

"We think the numbers are going to be so big, the perception will be that Nevada has huge toxic releases," Chapman said. The federal inventory is based on weight and amount, not health and environmental risks, he said.

"The companies believe in the public's right to know," Chapman said. And the mines face daily fines of up to $27,500 if they fail to report.

In mining, every time a rock is moved it is considered part of a toxic stream, even though the minerals occur naturally, Karl Burke, environmental manager for Barrick said.

"Those enormous numbers do not reflect a public health or environmental risk," he said.

Dust from rock crushing is captured by air pollution controls, and tainted water is sent to lined ponds and then reused. Major mines restore the environment with natural plants after mining is complete.

The state enforces strict regulations on mines, such as not allowing any discharge into ground water, John Mudge, environmental affairs director for Newmont Gold Co. said.

Newmont has been fined and forced to clean up discharges about three times in the 1990s, Mudge said.

The National Mining Association and Barrick have sued to force the EPA to clarify the definitions of what a toxic hard rock release is, Russell Fields, president of the Nevada Mining Association said.

Congress mandated chemical companies to report on 650 hazardous pollutants to the public after the 1984 toxic release in Bhopal, India, killed thousands. In 1991 Congress changed the law to include utilities and mining companies.

Nevada Power Co. released its first report last month, which showed its Reid Gardner coal-fired plant in Moapa Valley, about 40 miles northeast of Las Vegas, reported releasing 52.7 tons of six toxic metals and two acids into the region's air this year.