Release of toxic chemicals drops

Thursday, May 12, 2005 | 11:07 a.m.

Nevada industrial plants reported a drop in toxic chemical releases to air, land, water and off-site deposits in 2003, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

In Nevada, 111 facilities, including mining operations, reported a total of 409 million pounds of toxic chemicals released for the year, a drop of 57 million pounds since 2002, the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory list said.

The inventory reported that 92 percent of the state's releases to land came from gold ore metal mining primarily located in Northern Nevada.

Off-site releases by industries decreased by 1.2 million pounds. Of that total, a drop of 1.1 million pounds from Kerr McGee Chemical Corporation in Henderson led the 64 percent reduction, the list said.

The drastic drop at the Kerr McGee plant that provides manganese dioxide for boosting rocket fuel performance came when production stopped for five months in 2003, said Susan Crowley, staff environmental specialist.

The ammonium perchlorate inventory rose steadily from late 2002 through 2003, so plant managers shut the production down from August through December until the supply was distributed, Crowley said.

One increase in non-mining releases occurred at the US Ecology hazardous waste treatment facility in Beatty, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, with 24 million pounds of toxic chemicals to land reported in 2003. The Beatty waste site has operated since 1962.

While the Toxic Release Inventory is a measuring stick to allow the public to track chemicals in their own neighborhoods, the program has its limits, Leo Drozdoff, administrator for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, said.

"Once you look below the surface of these numbers, there are no big surprises," Drozdoff said.

Metal mining was first added to the EPA's annual voluntary report in 2000. Mercury releases into air attracted the attention of federal and state environmental officials.

"The TRI (Toxic Release Inventory) air emissions numbers for mercury from mining raised concerns," said Allen Biaggi, director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

There was no federal standard for mercury, Biaggi said, so the state launched a voluntary reduction program for mining companies in 2002.

"We have seen a significant reduction in air emissions from that program," said David Emme, a spokesman in the state's environmental protection division.

State environmental officials with the EPA and the mining industry said they are committed to continuing mercury reduction.

In 2000 the EPA expanded the inventory to include persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals, such as lead, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and dioxins. These chemicals persist in the environment and accumulate in food chains, posing risks to both people and the environment.

US Ecology led all Nevada facilities for total on- and off-site releases of these persistent chemicals with 24.2 million pounds to land reported for 2003.

Newmont Mining Corporation's Twin Creeks Mine in Northern Nevada's Humboldt County led all Nevada industries for total on- and off-site releases for all chemicals with 200.9 million pounds.