Gov. Bill Ritter on Sunday asked for long-term federal funding to relieve pressure building in a Leadville mine tunnel, launching the latest volley in a dispute over who will pay to avert potential disaster at the Superfund site.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which purifies metals-laced mine water for release into the Arkansas River, should commit to do so “in perpetuity” and should reimburse agencies that pay to drain the mine and unstop future blockages, Ritter said.
His letter, penned to the U.S. secretary of the Interior, described the buildup of tainted water, which threatens to burst from the mine and contaminate the river, as “a serious problem.”
The request comes after years of squabbling over which party — the state, the bureau or the Environmental Protection Agency — should be responsible for the financial and legal burdens of operating the tunnel.
“We know we have an issue up there that we have to take care of,” said governor’s spokesman Evan Dreyer. “Right now, we just want to get a commitment from the federal government that they’re going to work as hard and aggressively as possible to solve this.”
Ritter also thanked the bureau for agreeing to a series of shorter-term solutions that include drilling a well into the drainage tunnel and building a pipeline to ferry more water to its treatment plant.
The bureau purchased the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel for $1 in 1959 on the premise that it could produce marketable water needed in the growing West.
After the EPA placed the mining district and the surrounding area on the national Superfund list — reserved for the most polluted sites in the country — the bureau built the water-treatment plant in 1992 as part of the federal cleanup effort.
The two federal agencies determined in 2005 that the operation of the treatment plant should be permanently handled by the state.
“It’s something the state never wanted to do in the first place, but in the interest of getting the remedy done, we were willing to discuss it,” said Jeff Deckler, remedial-programs manager with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The deal fell through, though, when federal officials offered only $30 million to offset operation-and-maintenance costs rather than the $50 million requested by the state.
At the time, even Lake County officials advised the state to refuse the deal, noting that the plant costs just less than $1 million annually to operate and eventually will need an overhaul that could cost $20 million or more.
Steve Lipsher: 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com
