{"id":1123997,"date":"2019-06-30T19:53:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T19:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=995363"},"modified":"2019-06-30T19:53:49","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T19:53:49","slug":"sunnyside-gold-slams-the-epa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1123997","title":{"rendered":"Sunnyside Gold slams the EPA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sunnyside Gold Corp. or SGC, a subsidiary of Canada\u2019s Kinross Gold (TSX: K) (NYSE: KGC), sent a letter this week to the Region 8 Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Colorado rejecting recent declarations by the government agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<p>In early June 2019, the EPA announced that it has modified <g class=\"gr_ gr_3 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Grammar only-del replaceWithoutSep\" id=\"3\" data-gr-id=\"3\">an order<\/g> to Sunnyside so that the company helps pay for some of the cleanup investigation taking place at the American Tunnel in the Bonita Peak Superfund area north of Silverton, Colorado.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Back in February, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outtherecolorado.com\/gold-company-claims-epa-is-mishandling-colorado-mining-cleanup\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"the EPA said (opens in a new tab)\">the EPA said<\/a> previous mining work contributed to significant water quality problems in the area. Sunnyside responded saying the statement is false and defamatory<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The agency plans to drill the tunnel next month to measure water levels and investigate how the passage is connected to other shafts. The idea is to find a way to stop or treat contaminated water leaking into rivers from old mine sites. This is the place where, back in 2015, an EPA team <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"accidentally breached a tunnel (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/new-lawsuit-epa-gold-king-mine-spill\/\" >accidentally breached a tunnel<\/a> wall and unleashed a torrent of wastewater when carrying out cleaning up work at the defunct Gold King mine. Three-million gallons cascaded into a creek that feeds Colorado\u2019s Animas River and later poured downstream into the San Juan River in New Mexico, across Native American lands, and reached <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/utah-asks-epa-pay-1-9-billion-mine-waste-spill\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Utah\u2019s waterways (opens in a new tab)\">Utah\u2019s waterways<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Since Sunnyside owns and used to operate its namesake mine in the area, the EPA wants the company to back its efforts as it says that, besides Gold King, other operations contributed to water quality problems. Agency experts estimate that SGC\u2019s activities altered the groundwater system and, as a result, have caused other mines to discharge waste and contaminate the headwaters of the Animas River.<\/p>\n<p>However, in its recent written communication to the agency, Sunnyside rejected such a claim and indicated that five years of mining activity between 1986 and 1991 were followed by almost 30 years of remediation and reclamation and that these efforts have improved water quality. Therefore, the company believes it should not be forced to disburse more money for the new cleanup.<\/p>\n<p>SGC quotes in the missive <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"a study (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/emj.epubxp.com\/i\/1003184-jul-2018\/27\" >a study<\/a> published in the <em>Engineering &amp; Mining Journal<\/em> in July 2018 and the report by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment or CDPHE related to its completion of the terms of a Consent Decree it entered into with the state related to the $30-million reclamation and remediation of the site. Both documents suggest that the miner\u2019s activities reduced metals loading in the Animas River and its tributaries. The firm was released from further obligations.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-file aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Letter-re-Request-for-Retraction-2019-06-26.pdf\">Sunnyside Letter Request for Retraction 2019 06 26<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Letter-re-Request-for-Retraction-2019-06-26.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button\" download>Download<\/a><\/div>\n<p>\u201cCDPHE and CMLRD [Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division] were charged with overseeing, and did in fact diligently oversee, SGC\u2019s activities to ensure they were protective of the environment. The American Tunnel and significant other properties where SGC undertook activities are managed by the Bureau of Land Management,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cSGC\u2019s authorizations to engage in mining at the Sunnyside Mine were granted pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding between the BLM and Colorado. Were the EPA Statement accurate, CDPHE, CMLRD and BLM should be held in utter contempt for completely failing to fulfill their statutory responsibilities. The EPA Statement also disparages numerous others, including the Animas River Stakeholders Group, past leadership of EPA, and a Colorado District Judge, who endorsed SGC\u2019s notable environmental achievements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sunnyside considers that -as Mountain States Legal Foundation has said- the EPA is in a conflict of interest because it is acting as a regulator and supervisor of cleanup activities in the Bonita Peak Mining District while at the same time being a responsible party.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In early June, the EPA announced that it has modified an order to Sunnyside so that the company helps pay for some of the cleanup investigation taking place in the Bonita Peak Superfund area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1123997"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124410,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123997\/revisions\/1124410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1123997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1123997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1123997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}