The former environmental manager of Colorado’s
bankrupt Summitville mine, one of the worst and most expensive
environmental disasters in Colorado history, was indicted June l6
on 35 charges of conspiracy, felony violations of the Clean Water
Act, and two counts of falsifying records. EPA investigators charge
that in l990 mid-level manager Tom Chisholm knowingly discharged
pollutants such as copper, iron, lead and cyanide into several
tributaries of the Rio Grande River. The southern Colorado mine
shut down in l990, but the cleanup of its toxic waste has cost the
public $70 million so far, with $50 million more projected. For his
part in the pollution, Chisholm faces penalties of $250,000 in
fines and up to five years in prison. Officials in the mining
industry have other concerns, as Paul Jones of the Colorado Mining
Association’s Task Force on Summitville told The Denver Post: “I’m
concerned that they’re going after underlings in a company that’s
no longer in existence.” Robert Friedland, owner of Summitville’s
parent company Galactic Resources, has not been been charged, and
EPA officials had no comment about whether or not he was being
investigated. But Roger Flynn of the Western Mining Action Project
said this indictment may be the first step in a bigger operation to
get taxpayers’ money back: “It’s a welcome sign that people with
direct knowledge of this sort of pollution can be brought to
justice.”
*Shea
Andersen
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Summitville mine boss indicted.
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