EPA alleges violation at Questa mine
Chervon is being accused of violating the Clean Water Act by continuing to send potentially harmful water to a tailings facility west of Questa.
The Environmental Protection Agency sent an administrative order to Chevron Nov. 18 related to “unauthorized discharges waste streams.”
Under a discharge permit that went into effect July 1, Chevron agreed to stop sending potentially harmful water to the tailings facility. The water was partly mine drainage collected at the mine site, as well as groundwater and spring water captured in the same area. The water can potentially be harmful to the environment and wildlife.
Part of the reason for shutting down the tailings ponds has to do with seeps that have been found below the facility for at least 20 years. Environmental regulators were concerned that harmful water sent to the tailings ponds was seeping into the Red River or nearby groundwater.
While the mine was still operational, Chevron said between 0.6 and 3.16 million gallons of water was illegally leaking from the facility each day.
In place of the tailings facility, the company agreed to treat water collected at the mine site at a new water treatment facility, then discharge that water into the Red River.
The deadline to stop using the nine-mile tailings pipeline was Oct. 1, according to a discharge permit.
However, Chevron said this fall it would not finish the new facility by the deadline. In August, Tommy Lyles, a spokesman for Chevron, told The Taos News the company would stop using the pipeline by the deadline, and would find a new way to treat potentially contaminated water without the new facility. Lyles said it had taken longer than expected to complete the facility, but it was expected to be online before the end of the year.
In an email Dec. 20, Lyles said the pipeline was shut down on Sept. 30. He wrote that crews were building a protective cover for a temporary treatment plant on Nov. 16, when gusting winds damaged it. Lyles said work was immediately stopped and the temporary water treatment plant system was shut down.
“The result of this incident, and subsequent shut down of the temporary water treatment plant, has forced the restarting of the tailings pipeline and conveyance of water to the tailings ponds,” Lyles wrote.
According to the administrative order, provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, Chevron had until Dec. 2 to submit a written report on what steps were being taken to correct the alleged violations. If it could not immediately resolve the violation, Chevron was told to submit a report by Dec. 2 with a projected date for curtailing the violation. That report was to include descriptions of the necessary work to be down and estimated costs.
The order does not include any penalties.
Lyles said the company does not know how long it will continue to use the tailings pipeline and tailings facility.
