Letter: Copper mine needs cleanup

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2003 | 9:10 a.m.

As a native of Nevada, I implore the state to support granting federal superfund status to the now-closed copper mine at Weed Heights, northwest of Yerington. This toxic waste dump needs to be cleaned up.

A superfund designation would determine the costs for cleaning up this site (and other toxic mine sites across our state), ensuring realistic values for the cleanup bonds.

In 1976 the Anaconda Mining Co. entered a joint agreement with a Colorado company to produce uranium at the site, as a byproduct of copper. In 1984 monitoring wells revealed the presence of uranium -- up to 40 times higher than the drinking water standard later developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

How much uranium has entered the water system? What about other heavy metals? How far has the contamination migrated? How much is in the food chain?

Is it beneficial to the local economy and to property owners to dismiss the significance of this problem? Why doesn't Nevada hold the previous owners of this claim responsible for the environmental degradation? How much money did Anaconda, Arimecto, Atlantic Richfield and the other owenrs drop into the local economy after you subtract the real costs? Were those jobs that were created from 1918 to 1998 worth the cost? Is this how mining works for Nevada?

TERRY DAVIS Reno