Suit May Halt Runoff From Mine Dawn Accused Of Polluting Creek Near Ford
An environmental group wants a federal judge to stop Dawn Mining Co. from releasing radioactive runoff from a defunct uranium operation into a creek near Ford.
The Waste Action Project filed suit Tuesday in Spokane’s U.S. District Court.
The discharges into Chamokane Creek on the boundary of the Spokane Indian Reservation violate the federal Clean Water Act, said Greg Wingard, the Seattle group’s executive director.
Waste Action wants the court to order Dawn to obtain a discharge permit - and fine the company $25,000 a day for the last five years.
State and federal regulators have failed to take action to stop the releases, Wingard said.
“They’ve failed miserably. Dawn is releasing pollutants above any reasonable levels that a permit would allow,” he said.
Pollutants entering the creek through pipes and seeps at the mill site include uranium, sulfates, magnesium, radium and thorium, according to the lawsuit.
A Washington Department of Ecology official said his agency hasn’t pushed Dawn to get a discharge permit because an overall cleanup plan for the site is in the works.
The Washington Department of Health is working with Dawn officials on the cleanup plan, said Carl Nuechterlein, an Ecology water quality manager in Spokane.
“It’s not that we want the discharges. We are handling this through a cleanup plan,” Nuechterlein said.
Dawn Mining Co. President Chip Clark was away from his Denver office on Tuesday and unavailable for comment, said his secretary, Kathy Brown.
Dawn, a subsidiary of Newmont Mining Co. of Denver, owns the open-pit Midnite Mine near Wellpinit and the uranium milling and disposal area near Ford, about 40 miles northwest of Spokane.
The lawsuit could temporarily halt Dawn’s plans to import mildly radioactive waste from the East Coast to fill an abandoned tailings pond at the site.
“It’s our position that while our suit is pending, they can’t accept new waste,” Wingard said.
The Washington Department of Health approved Dawn’s controversial waste import plan last year.
Dawn officials have said they want to pay for the cleanup with money generated from importing the wastes to fill the old tailings pond.
The waste import project has the support of a citizen’s advisory group in Ford.
Lawyers for the Waste Action Project have recently pursued several Clean Water Act lawsuits in Puget Sound and along the Columbia River.
They recently reached an agreement with the state Department of Corrections to halt sewage discharges at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Wingard said.
, DataTimes