LEADVILLE — Lake County Commissioner Ken Olsen and his wife, Stephanie, have changed their minds about charging the EPA $20,000 for access to their property to install a mine drainage pipeline.
They have now agreed to provide access for free.
“The issue has been resolved,” Stephanie Olsen, president of the Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad, told 9News.
Olsen credits state Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, with helping to negotiate the agreement. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will use a steel-encased pipe to move the water, which is expected to be contaminated by mine waste.
The Olsens own the railroad company, which has tracks that run on the Olsens’ land.
In February, Ken Olsen pitched the idea to drill a well and pump trapped water out of the collapsed Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel to avoid a possible disaster.
The idea included running a pipeline from the new well to the drainage-tunnel treatment plant. Plans called for the pipeline to run across a sliver of the Olsens’ property.
At the time, Ken Olsen did not say that he expected payment for access to his land.
