Nevada Ponders Superfund Status for Mine

[Judi Lynn]

Nevada Ponders Superfund Status for Mine

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press Writer

August 8, 2004, 5:06 PM EDT


RENO, Nev. -- Pressured by a ranking senator from Nevada and the Environmental Protection Agency, Gov. Kenny Guinn says he might reconsider his opposition to a federal Superfund cleanup declaration for a huge abandoned mine contaminated with toxic waste and uranium.

Guinn, other state officials and local politicians have contended that the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection is making progress at the former Anaconda copper mine bordering Yerington, an agricultural town in northern Nevada, and that one-time Anaconda parent Atlantic Richfield Co. is cooperating.

They also fear the stigma of the area being labeled a Superfund site, a designation that would turn over responsibility and enforcement authority to the federal government.

Federal experts, however, said the recent discovery of unusually high levels of radiation in soil samples at the mine is a sign that federal help is needed.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-uranium-cleanup,0,5863074.story?coll=sns-ap-science-headlines

[medeak]

1. gee

maybe that's why there's a cancer cluster of childhood leukemia in Fallon not far away.

[Nambe]

2. Don't even whisper 'superfund' to Columbia River residents.

It's a toxic word. The feds seem to bring clean-up contractors that leave a bigger mess than the one they were there to clean up. The pentagon needs to stop buying bombs and clean up the Hanford mess they left behind. It's only purpose was enriching uranium for the bombs and the nuclear waste is leaking into the river as we speak. It's been a high priority 'superfund site' for years. Grrrr.

[LauraK]

3. Yup! Hanford is the 'superfu*k' site.

Don't eat the fish.

[TahitiNut]

4. Well, after spending more than $30 billion, it should be clean enough ...

... for all the CEOs kids to camp out for months. So, why not send them all there?