Agency: Relief from mine dust on the way

Jeffrey Libby

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 | 11 a.m.

The owner of an abandoned manganese mine east of Henderson is on track to have blowing dust controlled by October, a county air pollution control agency says.

Three Kids Enterprises, cited in June 2001 for dust blowing from the Three Kids Mine, has obtained a draft contract to spray a dust palliative on 75 acres of tailings south of the Lake Las Vegas master-planned community and resort, said Bob Folle, enforcement manager for the Clark County Air Pollution Control Board.

"It looks like we're finally going to get something started very soon," Folle said. "At least at this time, it appears (Paul Bertuccini of Three Kids Enterprises) is holding to his agreement."

Earlier this month, the county air pollution control board gave Three Kids Enterprises two weeks to plan a short-term cleanup of the abandoned mine, which straddles county and federal land and has been abandoned for more than 40 years.

Three Kids Enterprises' $25,000 contract with Affordable Road Recycling of Las Vegas appears to put the developer on a par with two federal agencies also charged with controlling dust at the mine site.

The Bureau of Reclamation owns about 73 acres of mine tailings and the Bureau of Land Management owns another two acres. The BOR has put aside $80,000 to control dust. The agencies plan to spray a roughly two-inch plastic coating over their 75 acres by October, Folle said.

Bertuccini says he is attempting to coordinate the short-term cleanup effort with the federal agencies in the hopes of saving some money.

"We do not feel we are responsible for stabilizing the dust because we didn't do any mining out there," Bertuccini said. "But we are willing to do this. We're trying to cut our losses."

In 1989 Three Kids Enterprises purchased 220 acres at auction with plans to develop the land. The 220 acres included 75 acres of mine tailings and much of the 300-foot deep, open-pit mine. At the time, environmental regulations did not require landowners to control blowing dust.

The mine opened in 1917, and in the 1940s, the U.S. government contracted with then-owners Manganese Ore Co. for the ore, used as a steel hardening agent for weapons and aircraft. The Defense National Stockpile Center still leases five acres from Three Kids to store three stockpiles of ore that have sat unused at the site since the end of World War II, Bertuccini said.

The county air pollution control board cited Three Kids in 2001 after nearby businesses and homes complained about a fine black dust blowing from the mine.

The dust contains high levels of arsenic, lead and manganese, three heavy metals that pose a threat to human health, the state Department of Environmental Protection has said.