An ongoing effort to remove mercury- and arsenic-laden soils from a Lake County Indian reservation has received up to $5 million in federal stimulus funds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported Wednesday.
The cleanup project is linked to a larger effort to remove and control contamination at the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine, a federal Superfund site located along the Clear Lake shoreline adjacent to the Elem Indian Colony.
The larger cleanup project is not eligible for stimulus funds because the final cleanup plan for the mine is not completed, said Richard Sugarek, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency site manager for both projects.
?The stimulus money is for shovel-ready projects,? he noted.
The Elem Indian Colony was contaminated almost 30 years ago when Bureau of Indian Affairs officials used soil from the mercury mine to construct roads and home building pads on the reservation.
A decade later, the mercury mine was deemed a Superfund site.
Tests on Elem residents in the early 1990s found some had slightly elevated levels of mercury, but not high enough to cause serious illness, officials said. Mercury poisoning can cause kidney and nerve damage.
In 1997, the EPA removed contaminated soil in yards on the reservation. Nine years later, it began removing additional soils, including under homes. The work included the replacement of several homes as well as sewer and water pipes.
Funding shortages disrupted efforts to remove and replace the roads, Sugarek said.
The last of the contaminated road soil is expected to be excavated in early 2010, following planning and coordination with Elem tribe members, according to the EPA.
Elem officials could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
Cleaning up contamination at the mine site itself is far more complex and is expected to take many more years.
?We have a lot more work to do,? Sugarek said.
There are 3 million cubic yards of contaminated mine waste at the defunct mine, he said.
Excavation of the soil created a 23-acre, 100-foot-deep pit. It is now full of contaminated water that continues to bubble up with hot water from the earth?s core, Sugarek said.
Some of the contaminated soil has been removed or capped and barriers have been built to prevent additional mercury from seeping into Clear Lake, he said.
The mine ? one of the largest in the nation ? is responsible for most of Clear Lake?s mercury content, Sugarek said.
The 150-acre mine, created during the Gold Rush, was one of the largest mercury producers in California. Miners used mercury to extract gold.
The site initially was mined for sulphur. Prospectors discovered piles of the stuff, created by geothermal activity, Sugarek said. At the bottom of the pile, they found mercury and began excavating the metal in about 1873. Mining ceased in 1957, Sugarek said.
So far, the mine?s cleanup has cost about $40 million, Sugarek said. He expects it will cost tens of millions of additional dollars.
Federal money has been paying for the cleanup because the mine?s owners did not have the funds, Sugarek said.
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