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SALT LAKE CITY — The operator of the Crandall Canyon Mine where six miners were killed and three rescuers also lost their lives is in a heated dispute with the state, arguing over a demand to treat contaminated water — essentially forever.
What has become the tomb of lives lost and a testament to tragedy is now at front and center of a water pollution problem the state insists should be controlled.
Attorneys for Genwal Resources argued before the state's Board of Oil Gas and Mining earlier this week that a water treatment plan already in place is sufficient to take care of water discharges that began in January of 2008 — a few months after the disaster.
After two years of effort an expensive water treatment system is the only solution that has been found. The water treatment system is a solution that requires constant oversight and expense.
–Official report
On Aug. 6, 2007, the interior of the mine collapsed in such force that it registered as a 4.2 seismic event, trapping six miners 1,800 feet underground. Ten days later, three rescuers died and several were injured as they made entry into the mine.
In the weeks following, mine operators and public safety officials embarked on failed and frustrating attempts to rescue the men trapped in the initial collapse.
Now shut and sealed, the Crandall Canyon Mine has since existed as a memorial for loved ones and a question mark for those who wonder if it will ever resume operations.
But in January, water began discharging from the north portals of the mine due to gravity, and the state took notice.
The water, according to documents filed with the division, includes iron concentrations that exceed state limits on pollution — and that water is likely to flow in "perpetuity" because of the mine's status in limbo.
Because of that, the division is insisting on a surety bond to be posted annually for $325,000 since there isn't a guarantee the mine will be up and operational and the contamination will be handled properly.
"The bond for the Crandall Canyon Mine must be increased to cover long-term and likely perpetual treatment of the mine water discharge," a division paper states, noting that a hydrological evaluation said the mine water will require ongoing treatment.
Genwal's attorneys say that to "bond first and ask questions later" exceeds the division's authority and stressed that mine is in a temporary "cessation" period that doesn't merit such oversight.
But with the status of the mine's startup operations in question, the division says it is paramount Genwal takes care of the water contamination problem now.
"After two years of effort an expensive water treatment system is the only solution that has been found," documents state. "The water treatment system is a solution that requires constant oversight and expense."
The contention and controversy over the Crandall Canyon Mine began in 2007 with deaths and continues now with contaminated water.
Although the state Board of Oil Gas and Mining is due to review the case next month, it is likely that — as with the entombed miners — it is an issue that will never truly be put to rest.
E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com
