"Old Mines Present Mammoth Remediation Task in N.M."

"Steering his Toyota 4Runner through a dirt path in the town of Cerrillos, Todd Brown points to one of the piles of waste rock that have been sitting for decades in one of the most mineral-rich mining districts in the state.

'In the old days … they didn’t even know what reclamation meant,' Brown says about the process of restoring an abandoned mine site. 'And people die, and people move and people sell. That’s why nothing ever got cleaned up.'

Brown’s nearby Cerrillos mining museum caters to a familiar Old West narrative. But a few miles away, where Brown cares for private properties, waste rock piles that have been sitting on these rolling hills for decades attest to a different legacy that miners from the 19th century and earlier left behind."

Justin Horwath reports for the Santa Fe New Mexican September 5, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"Why Silverton Still Doesn't Want a Superfund Site" (High Country News)

"EPA Waste Official, Contractor Head To Testify at Mine Spill Hearing" (The Hill)