A long-abandoned copper and cadmium mine high in the Applegate River drainage was added to the Superfund list on Thursday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A long-abandoned copper and cadmium mine high in the Applegate River drainage was added to the Superfund list on Thursday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The decision to add the Blue Ledge mine on the list of the nation’s worst polluted places qualifies it for additional cleanup funding, EPA officials said.
Tailings at the mine, about three miles south of the California state line, are laced with a heavy-metal mix of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, sulfuric acid and zinc.
In addition to the Blue Ledge mine, the abandoned New Idria Mercury Mine site in California’s San Benito County, the second largest producer of mercury in North America that was in operation more than 100 years, was also added to the list.
Situated about 60 miles southeast of Hollister, the mine’s mercury contamination has been polluting waterways leading to the San Joaquin River and San Francisco Bay, EPA officials said.
Read more in today’s Ashland Daily Tidings.
