ARCO to Treat Acid Mine Drainage From California Superfund Site.(Brief Article)

0 Comments | Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), December, 2000

Atlantic Richfield will have to develop a long-term cleanup plan for acid mine drainage from the Leviathan Mine Superfund site in Alpine County, Calif., according to an EPA order. In 1954, Anaconda transformed the underground workings of the 19th-century-era mine into an open pit mine to extract sulfur ore.

About 22 million tons of soil and waste rock were removed to reach the ore and placed into and along channels of Leviathan and Aspen creeks. In 1997, EPA attempted to install an active treatment system to reduce the volume of liquids contained in the ponds, thereby providing sufficient capacity to prevent overflows during the spring of 1998. Due to equipment and weather problems, the system was not successful. During 1998, Region 9 negotiated an...