Stabilization work is set to begin Saturday at the Gold King Mine in southwest Colorado as part of continued cleanup efforts at the site after last summer’s .
The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday morning, specifically, it is mobilizing contractors to shore up the mine’s opening and the waste rock pile just outside the adit. The operations are expected to continue through October.
“We anticipate that the (below the Gold King) will continue to capture and treat any discharge from the mine,” the EPA said in a news release. “However, should any of this work impact downstream watersheds, EPA will notify stakeholders.”
The work will include installing steel bracing and concrete, the removal of waste sludge stored in the mine’s temporary water treatment plant and an analysis of how to move forward with water treatment in the long run.
With the beginning of the new initiative, the EPA is signaling it has heard the complaints of communities downstream of the mine who say they weren’t notified quickly of the Gold King disaster. The agency says it has an in place to prevent any further communication issues.Perhaps the biggest focus, however, of downstream stakeholders has been the still-leaching mine’s temporary water treatment plant. Officials about the EPA’s commitment to keep open the facility, .
Gov. John Hickenlooper, Sen. Cory Gardner and local leaders for months have urged EPA officials to commit to keep this temporary plant running, and maybe expand it, .
The , as of Friday, remained an unknown though the EPA said it has committed to taking a hard look — including public input — about how to proceed in the long-term. The plant will continue to operate as officials investigate alternatives.
Fallout from the Aug. 5, 2015, disaster has been ongoing and last month New Mexico it sued Colorado over the 3 million-gallon wastewater release. The work to begin Saturday is some of the most extensive undertaken at the site since the spill.
