Mines place state at No. 1 pollution spot

Friday, May 12, 2000 | 11:35 a.m.

Mines The nine Nevada mines listed in the top 25 of polluting industries by the Environmental Protection Agency, their ranking and total amounts of pollutants in pounds are:

2; 405.4 million

4; 269.7 million

7; 167.7 million

12; 112 million

13; 107.3 million

15; 53.8 million

18; 44.4 million

20; 36.1 million

24; 24.8 million Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Nevada topped all 50 states on a pollution list released Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency with 1.3 billion pounds of toxins released into the air, water and soils -- primarily from hard-rock mining.

That's 750 pounds of pollutants for every man, woman and child living in Nevada, the Mineral Policy Center of Washington, D.C., said.

Nevada released more toxins than the entire U.S. chemical industry and dwarfed Texas, the top polluter on last year's list. Nine Nevada mines ranked among the EPA's top 25 polluters.

Of the 7.3 billion pound national total, mining companies and electric power plants accounted for two-thirds of the releases.

The Barrick Goldstrike Mine in northeastern Nevada reported 398 million pounds of toxic waste, more than six times the entire inventory of New York, according to the EPA.

The Goldstrike Mine ranked second on the national list, behind Kennecott Utah Copper Mine near Salt Lake City, which reported 405 million pounds released.

Pollution from mining was added this year to the Toxics Release Inventory list, a national "right to know" update that EPA has been compiling since 1987. Mining is one of seven new industrial categories on the list, EPA Administrator Carol Browner said.

Browner explained that President Clinton expanded the pollution list in 1997. While it offers communities an inventory of what toxic chemicals are in their neighborhoods, it does not measure health risks or exposure, she said.

Mining representatives on Thursday said they were not surprised by the ranking.

"It's as we anticipated, Nevada's numbers were going to be very, very large for hard-rock mining," Russell Fields, Nevada Mining Association executive director, said. All releases are permitted, regulated and managed on site by the state.

Barrick Mining Corp. of Toronto could not be reached for comment.

"We're not surprised, we were expecting this," John Mudge, Newmont Gold Co. director of environmental affairs, said. The mines reported any toxin or heavy metal, such as lead and arsenic, including amounts contained in waste rocks.

"We don't consider naturally occurring minerals moved around or put into lined ponds as toxic," Mudge said.

In 1997 the chemical industry topped the pollution list with 797.5 million pounds of toxic releases nationwide. Texas led that part of the list again in 1998 with 260 million pounds of toxins from industry. In California and Hawaii, overall pollutants reported have been steadily declining, the EPA said.

Nevada ranked 42 on the list of 50 states for industrial releases without mining.

While 1.3 billion pounds sounds like a lot of toxic materials, no Nevada mine has ever been cited by the Nevada Division Environmental Protection, Deputy Administrator Verne Rosse said.

Low volumes of chemicals released over time add up, Rosse said, but the mines have never violated federal or state limits on toxins.

"We've threatened them with enforcement action, but the mines work with us," Rosse said. And no one living in towns surrounding the mines has complained about them, he said.

Alan Septoff, reform campaign director for the Mineral Policy Center, said the mining industry can no longer hide behind a federal reporting exemption.

Lead, arsenic, cyanide and mercury from the mines pushed Nevada into the worst polluter category.

"The industry is releasing massive amounts of mercury into Nevada's air. It releases cyanide into our nation's rivers and streams," Septoff said. The EPA has not determined that mercury impacts the environment, but it affects the central nervous system of animals and humans.

The Jerritt Canyon Joint Venture mine in Northern Nevada released 80,400 pounds of mercury in 1998, 9,400 pounds of that into the air. That appeared to be the single largest mercury release at any U.S. mine.

There are 36 bankrupt mines in Nevada that may need an estimated $100 million from taxpayers to clean up, Septoff said. The center supports Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's efforts to reform the 1872 mining law that would require bonds from mining companies so taxpayers would not get stuck with the cleanup costs.

Mary Manning covers environmental issues for the Sun. She can be reached by phone at (702) 259-4065 or by e-mail: manning@lasvegassun.com