The California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to begin work in June to remove mercury-contaminated materials from the Elem Indian Colony. “We”re expecting to start between June 5 and June 12,” said Remedial Project Manager Rick Sugarek. “It should run through the end of September.” Elem is located next to the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine, which conducted operations from the mid-1800s to 1957. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs later used mine wastes as fill on residential lots located on the colony”s western edge and as road base on paved and upaved roads throughout the Elem Indian Colony. Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine waste poses a hazard in two ways. The first is through direct contact with contaminated wastes. The length and level of necessary exposure depends upon a subject”s age, with young children being most susceptible. A risk assessment conducted for the SBMM Superfund site “conservatively assumed” daily exposure of Elem Indian Colony residents to mercury, antimony and arsenic. Another risk is posed by the “bioaccumuation” of mercury in plants and animals that make up the food chain. The state has issued an advisory to limit the eating of fish from Clear Lake, due to their levels of mercury. For more information, visit the EPA”s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment Web site at www.oehha.ca.gov/fish.html. Sugarek put the cost at $6 million overall to remove contaminated materials from Elem and reconstruct housing foundations, gravel roads and the paved road system. This is the first phase in a long-term clean-up of the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine Superfund Site. A recent meeting for property owners along Sulphur Bank Drive served to acquaint them with EPA efforts to ensure public safety, with notices of the meeting sent through the U.S. mail by the Clear Lake Environmental Action Network. “We came up with a traffic control plan,” Sugarek explained. “Intermittent controls will be in effect.” Work will take place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. One-way controlled traffic will be in effect only when trucks are hauling clean materials to the work site. “At the start of the project, there will probably be a week of traffic control,” Sugarek said. “And when we”re in the midst of clean-up, there will probably be a period of traffic control of about three or four weeks.” Sugarek added that the EPA has worked with Caltrans and local law enforcement and emergency responders to ensure their ability to serve the public quickly in spite of the traffic controls. Motorists can expect an eight-minute delay when traffic controls are in effect. A pilot car will escort motorists through the one-way area. Sugarek said traffic controls will also control the speed of the trucks, which will minimize the raising of dust. Sugarek stressed that only clean materials will be hauled on the public roadway. Contaminated materials will be transported via hauling roads back to the mine. Once there, the contaminated materials will be stored in a secure area and will eventually be removed as part of the mercury mine clean-up. Other components of the Superfund clean-up include elimination of contaminants from Clear Lake and the treatment of water and solid waste in the Hermann Impoundment Pit. Contact Cynthia Parkhill at cparkhill@clearlakeobserver.com.
