EPA Update From the Lake County Visitor Center
The Lake County Visitor Center is vitally concerned about protecting our heritage tourism industry, which represents tens of thousands of dollars of income for Lake County businesses and over $1 million dollars in retail sales tax collections for our community. The EPA jeopardizes that income with their current plans to create MORE “wedding cakes” in our historic mining district, which is currently drawing thousands of tourists to Lake County annually.
While the EPA continues to patronize Leadville residents with “fixed” surveys, holding back other alternatives to the proposed capping process, and often refusing to respond to questions, the Lake County Visitor Center has prepared this blog to give residents the “REAL” story about the aggressive actions of the EPA, to remedy what they claim is an “acid water” problem up Stray Horse Gulch with, as they have stated, the “quickest and cheapest” way out.
In a recent conversation with the Colorado State Historical Society who is the designated State Historic Preservation Officer, the EPA contacted them last April (as required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act). We were told by the SHPO that after that initial contact almost a year ago, neither the EPA nor the Colorado Department of Health and Environment have complied with that section of the Act by involving the SHPO with documentations, assessments, etc., of these historic icons… such an important part of the identity of Leadville.
The EPA and the STATE have both said they are here to “get in and out as quickly and cheaply” as possible. They have already determined in Denver long ago, that “capping” IS going to occur up in our historic mining district AGAIN, just up from our now-famous “wedding cakes.”
It will make a truly authentic and appealing entrance to our mining district and our mining heritage right up Stray Horse Gulch (5th Street), don’t you think?
We believe the intent on the part of the EPA and the STATE is to “cap” our historic mining icons (like the already existing “wedding cakes” shown in the photo below), with the assumption that capping will remedy the situation permanently, and they won’t have to provide any future maintainance in the area… in short, it’s about the money, NOT about doing the job right. And NOT about listening to Leadville and Lake County who will inherit what they do this summer, in years to come if the “capping” process fails.
This is a VERY important issue for Lake County. It will define, in many ways, our future economic success. We ALL need to be involved at some level, even if it’s just ONE comment indicating where you stand on the further proposed destruction/capping of our historic mining district.
Even though I am not a resident of the Leadville area, our family comes to visit at least 7-8 times per year from the Denver area. In the warmer months we always enjoy the Mineral Belt Trail. When I saw these pictures I was horrified! Leadville is rich in Colorado history and we can never get enough of the landmarks that represent the distant past when Leadville was a booming mining town. Why would the EPA want to scar the beauty and historical significance of this area? Obviously they must have some type of agenda OR they would not be attempting to take action to continue their destruction! This needs to be STOPPED NOW! I want to add that I believe that the town of Leadville depends on tourism as many mountain towns do in our state. If you take away the history, OUR state’s history, you may as well tell all the merchants to shut down their businesses and try to start over elsewhere because the area will die. When a town dies, it is forgotten. I am a native of Colorado and deeply appreciate the significance of our history! This area must be preserved!
Thank you for this blog! It is good to be heard by someone who cares!
The EPA has public comment periods on all activities regarding the Super Fund site. General the County Commissioners have input into all remediation actions on this site. What did they propose? There are clearly other options other than concrete which contributes to the bunker affect. EPA will probably require some form of capping on mine dumps in the Stray Horse but there are various ways to cap the dumps. This issue has been going on for many years and the public must be sure the Commissioners are voicing community concerns at these meetings. The only way for this to occur is to be sure the Commissioners understand what the community concerns are. The Chamber could be a good conduit for that to happen. This website is a good step toward that end but addition avenues for comment will probably be required.
Saving representative examples of the historic mining district are very important but if steps are not taken immediately there won’t be much left to save. Realistically the mine dumps may be all we can save.
This is a good start to a process I hope it is not too little too late.
I’m not at all clear why the county commissioners overlooked the lack of proper assessment by a State Historic Preservation Officer BEFORE letting the EPA use the Denver City Mine as a guinea pig?
What I do know is that my business here in Leadville will suffer if we keep losing more and more of our historic mining district. Isn’t that what makes Leadville, LEADVILLE? We need those heritage tourists in the worst way! A lot of us Lake County business owners are hurting!
WAKE UP LEADVILLE! If the citizens of Leadville do not get involved in this debacle by the EPA, there will be no tourist industry left. It may be too late already, but we’ll never know unless we take action now. Contact your County Commissioner and ask why the laws were not followed. Ask the Chamber of Commerce where they are. Ask the Lake County Historical Society what they are doing to preserve the history of Leadville. All of these groups arre supposed to be concerned about the interest of the citizens. Where are they???????
Latest update… the EPA has finally figured out they needed to involve the Colorado Historical Society LONG ago, and are now trying to close the barn door after the “shotcrete” has gotten out at the Denver City Mine. (Remember, the Denver City Mine wasn’t even one of the targeted mine sites the EPA wants to cover up with shotcrete, but the EPA project manager pushed that through. We can now hike down our gorgeous Mineral Belt Trail and look at that mountain of shotcrete!)
I wonder how many people would think you could sell an antique car that had been painted over with 28 cans of Wal-mart spray paint? The EPA seems to think pouring shotcrete all over more of those ruins will look just “fine”… yea, right. Try marketing a tourist attraction that has 28 tons of shotcrete sprayed all over it!
I wonder how many more times Leadville will have to explain to tourists, “That big pile of concrete used to be the famous Mikado Mine, and that big pile of concrete over there used to be the….”
The Leadville Mining District is our heritage, it is priceless and can’t be replaced, and the last thing we should do is let BIG GOVERNMENT blast in here, destroy even more of our history, ruin more of our heritage tourism industry and leave us to figure out how to make the best of their destruction.
As a person who loves this area and all the history of the state, we cannot stand for this irresponsible behavior by our government to happen. We need to hold these guys accountable for their actions and be sure they are following all the laws and allow for adequate and responsible public input. It sounds like there are some issues with the commissioners in this area not doing what they should be doing as well. I suggest everyone in the area, please contact your commissioner and state reps about your displeasure of what is happening. The more people that get involved the better. If this is allowed to happen, it will be gone forever. We need to preserve every bit of history so that many future generations can continue to visit the area and feel that they have stepped back in time. Please help to get involved before it is too late, lets help keep the History and Economy alive in Leadville!
This sounds like just another example of how government bureaucracy attempts to push their agenda no matter who they crush in the process! This time they have chosen a small mountain town like Leadville to bully around. This area is enormously rich in Colorado mining history. By capping the mines in this area, the EPA is destroying a piece of our state’s history…not to mention the people who dwell here and make their living mainly from tourism. Do you think tourist will come to see the concrete “cakes?” I think not, NO way!
No matter how many times I visit, I always look forward to checking out the old mines. It gives me and my children a deeper appreciation of the tenacious folks who tried to make their American dream come true by striking it rich! These stories are not only colorful, but they seem to come to life when one can actually stand at the site of an old mine! What a treasure these are!
What is next if we let the EPA turn this beautiful and mysterious place into a concrete tomb, buried with it….our history? Will they go after the old standing buildings after they cap all the mines? The EPA does not appear to be concerned about how their actions may impact this area. Are they diligently looking at other options? What about the small businesses and the people who own them? What does this do to an already choking economy?
If anyone reading this doesn’t like what is going on, contact your state representatives and let them know this is just WRONG!
IIRC wasn’t it the EPA that said something about carbon dioxide being a hazardous material?
Are ya sure ya wanna trust them now?
Wait until they start fining people from excessive breathing.
I want to thank the blogger very much not only for this post but also for his all previous efforts. I found http://www.lakecountyvisitorcenter.com to be extremely interesting. I will be coming back to http://www.lakecountyvisitorcenter.com for more information.
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After consultation with the Colorado State Preservation Officer, ALL the proposed remedial sites in the California Gulch Superfind site (Stray Horse Gulch area to be exact) are still “eligible”… which means the EPA is mandated to involved the SHPO in the remediation and mitigation decision process.
The SHORT version… there is NO study, NO visual evidence, NO indication of ANY kind that there is a problem up Stray Horse Gulch. But the EPA is bound and determined to do SOMETHING in the Superfund site, lest they be unable to justify their jobs, so they are going to bury everything in sight “just in case pollutants begin to appear sometime later on.”
One of Colorado’s last remaining historic mining districts is about get trashed again with senseless government involvement… this mining district spawned such important historical figures as Susan B. Anthony who crusaded here for woman’s suffrage, Charles Dow who founded the Dow Jones, David May who founded the May D&F (later known as Macy’s/Foley’s), Doc Holliday, Boettcher, Gugenheim, “Texas Jack”, the Unsinkable Molly Brown of Titanic fame, along with countless senators and presidents who held mining interests here…
…and the small minded EPA folks are going to bury more of this amazing district with shotcrete simply so they can say they did something here to justify their jobs…
Just another page in the history of Leadville. This time instead of the Dalton gang or Jesse James, it’s the EPA.
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