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Are the Lake County Commissioner and State Sen. Tom Wiens grandstanding over the danger poised by a clogged mine tunnel?
Leadville Mayor Bud Elliott thinks so.
The commissioners on Feb. 13 declared a state of emergency with the clogged tunnel, which may hold as much as 1 billion gallons of water, much of it poisoned because it’s been leaching through mineral-laden rock.
The commissioners say the disaster declaration was needed to get the Bureau of Reclamation and the Environmental Protection Agency off their collective kiesters to more effectively treat the water now trickling out of the World War II-era tunnel.
Wiens, meanwhile, has set up a Web site — The Rocky Mountain News reports the site went live a few days before the commissioners’ vote on Feb. 13 — to get information out about the potential danger.
The disaster declaration had the intended effect. Pretty much all of Colorado’s congressional delegation has either visited, or spoken about, the tunnel in the last couple of weeks, and the feds seem to be moving now on at least partial solutions to the problem.
But the action has come at a cost, according to Elliott.
Quoted in the Rocky Mountain News, Elliott says the town’s liability insurance has been cancelled, that real estate deals have fallen through, and that several groups of skiers planning to stay in Leadville are now finding rooms elsewhere.
Beyond that, other press reports indicate that the people who live in the mobile home park near the tunnel are sleeping fitfully these days over the prospect of a “disaster” that’s been described in near-biblical terms. The anxiety is especially great for those in the park who don’t speak fluent English.
Make no mistake, it would be a catastrophe if the mine tunnel failed all at once, although that’s a fairly remote possibility. And the feds, as is far too often the case, have been dithering for years about possible fixes.
It’s still too soon to know how this story’s going to end. What we know right now, though, is that if you use dynamite to get someone’s attention, you may blow up something you hadn’t intended to.
Leadville Mayor Bud Elliott thinks so.
The commissioners on Feb. 13 declared a state of emergency with the clogged tunnel, which may hold as much as 1 billion gallons of water, much of it poisoned because it’s been leaching through mineral-laden rock.
The commissioners say the disaster declaration was needed to get the Bureau of Reclamation and the Environmental Protection Agency off their collective kiesters to more effectively treat the water now trickling out of the World War II-era tunnel.
Wiens, meanwhile, has set up a Web site — The Rocky Mountain News reports the site went live a few days before the commissioners’ vote on Feb. 13 — to get information out about the potential danger.
The disaster declaration had the intended effect. Pretty much all of Colorado’s congressional delegation has either visited, or spoken about, the tunnel in the last couple of weeks, and the feds seem to be moving now on at least partial solutions to the problem.
But the action has come at a cost, according to Elliott.
Quoted in the Rocky Mountain News, Elliott says the town’s liability insurance has been cancelled, that real estate deals have fallen through, and that several groups of skiers planning to stay in Leadville are now finding rooms elsewhere.
Beyond that, other press reports indicate that the people who live in the mobile home park near the tunnel are sleeping fitfully these days over the prospect of a “disaster” that’s been described in near-biblical terms. The anxiety is especially great for those in the park who don’t speak fluent English.
Make no mistake, it would be a catastrophe if the mine tunnel failed all at once, although that’s a fairly remote possibility. And the feds, as is far too often the case, have been dithering for years about possible fixes.
It’s still too soon to know how this story’s going to end. What we know right now, though, is that if you use dynamite to get someone’s attention, you may blow up something you hadn’t intended to.
