Auditor: $300,000 unaccounted for from Monte Cristo cleanup
MONTE CRISTO — More than $300,000 turned up missing from Department of Ecology records of a 2015 cleanup in the Monte Cristo mining area east of Granite Falls, according to the State Auditor’s Office.
The project sought to rid the historic ghost town, off the Mountain Loop Highway near Barlow Pass, of contaminated mine tailings.
The state audit, released earlier this month, said Ecology didn’t keep thorough enough records to ensure those funds were spent correctly.
The American Smelting and Refining Company ran a gold mining operation in Monte Cristo for nearly 100 years, leaving behind unnaturally high concentrations of arsenic, lead and other heavy toxic metals.
In 2005, the company filed for bankruptcy. As part of the settlement, it paid the state of Washington and the U.S. Forest Service $5.5 million to restore the Monte Cristo town site.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/auditor-300000-unaccounted-for-from-monte-cristo-cleanup/
That's a lot of money to go missing.
