By Sammie Snoop, Staff Reporter       

    Slippery Creek—When the Colorado Public Health Department (CPHD) announced in 1998 that high levels of lead were found in Slippery Creek, nearby residents began asking questions regarding their health safety.  When the agency later discovered cyanide in the Wamasana, people got more worried.

    William Burroughs, the director of the CPHD, claims, “No significant difference between the Slippery Creek community and any other poor community exist.  Tailings from the nearby mine are not to blame for the disease here.”

    Megan Lee Jones, the former employee of Silver County Water Management who was the first to acknowledge heavy contamination in the creek, started the Slippery Toxics Action Committee (STAC) four years ago in response to the neighborhood uproar regarding Burroughs’ stance.

    “How does Burroughs even expect to find a difference if he doesn’t do a thorough investigation of the health of Slippery Creek residents?” implores Jones.

    In an interview with Burroughs, he explained that his data came from the Agency Toxic Substance Disease Registry study completed through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The study enables the comparison to be made between the Slippery Creek area to similar communities in terms of socioeconomic and geographic characteristics.  The difference was that the other areas were not exposed to toxics.

    Jones, familiar with the CDC study, says that it does not place enough emphasis on community health problems.

    Fed up with the inaction of the CPHD, Jones led a local study through the STAC, the results of which were announced at a public hearing on Friday.  More vocal about health risks, STAC coordinated with St. Mary’s Hospital in Vermillion to determine the levels of lead found in select Slippery Creek residents’ bloodstream.  STAC discovered that lead is the most prevalent metal found in the water.

    “We found that 80% of those tested who have been feeling sick in the last year had levels of 50 micrograms per deciliter or higher, which is very high.  Severe consequences can likely result,” reports Jones.

    High levels of lead in the bloodstream can adversely affect the reproductive system, central nervous system, memory retention, and the kidneys.  Exposure can also cause anemia.  The health risks are higher for children, for they may also experience growth defects.  Lead exposure occurs by either swallowing or breathing the lead.

    Mark D’Zine of the Silver County Planning Department has also realized the need for greater involvement in the issue.  He contacted the EPA to designate the area as a Superfund site. Then Trout Lake could be dredged for sediment removal.  The decision will be made depending upon if the funds exist and if the EPA believes that the tailings are hazardous to the health.

    With Jones’ help, D’Zine is confident that the STAC report will convince the EPA that the organization’s help is needed.  In 1987 when the first knowledge of contamination was revealed, the EPA was contacted for their involvement.  Unfortunately, the EPA’s workload has been enormous as of late, and the large amounts of paperwork required have prevented the EPA from beginning any sort of research or metal removal.

    Opposition to the potential of dredging the lake has arisen from nearby homeowners.

    “Of course I don’t want my lake contaminated, but this process will kill the remaining life in this lake,” says Rachel LeBaron, president of the Trout Lake Homeowners Association.  “Stirring up the sediments will just further pollute the water we drink!”

    Skeptics of Trout Lake homeowners believe that these year-round residents simply do not want the EPA in their backyards for the duration of the sifting process.

    Lucy Lucky of the Silver City Historic Society and Tourism Board also thinks that creating a Superfund will do more harm then good.  “We will lose all our tourists.  Who wants to visit a site known for its contamination?”

    Agreeing with Lucky is Ben Cartright of Silver City’s Chamber of Commerce, who says, “Slippery Creek and Silver Cliff are already doing all they can to generate more money flowing through this impoverished area.  Superfund designation could ruin all hopes.”

    If the Silver Cliff area is designated as a Superfund site, the EPA will expect the potentially responsible party to pay the clean-up costs, which in the past have reached up to $500 million dollars.  The likely responsible party would be the now-defunct MH Mining.

    Until a decision has been made, residents of Silver County will continue worrying and resenting the CPHD for not viewing heavy metal contamination as a serious problem.