Oregon Public Broadcasting


One of Oregon’s largest mercury mines has been put on the Superfund list, making it one of the nation’s most polluted areas.

Rob Manning reports. 
 

It’s been decades since anyone mined mercury at the Black Butte site near Cottage Grove.

But that hasn’t stopped the site from contributing as much as 75 percent of the mercury found downstream, according to environmental officials. 
 


Bryn Thoms with Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality says a cleanup in 2007 didn’t fix the entire problem – but DEQ can’t afford to do what more is needed. Thoms says that’s why the state applied for federal “superfund” status.

Thoms says there are two factors that got the federal Environmental Protection Agency to agree. 
 


Thoms: “One is the human health aspect, which is humans eating fish in Cottage Grove reservoir. Another is endangered species, such as bald eagles, having problems with reproduction.” 
 


Listing Black Butte as a “national priority” should bring with it extra funding – but Thoms says there’ll be an extensive process to figure out the most effective way to clean up the site. 
 


Rob Manning, OPB News.