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EPA Orders BHP Copper to Apply for Stormwater Discharge Permits

Release Date: 9/30/2002
Contact Information: Wendy L. Chavez, (415) 947-4248, chavez.wendy@epa.gov

     SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today ordered Tucson- based BHP Copper Inc. to apply for stormwater discharge permits for its inactive Solitude Tailings Site in Miami, Ariz. and the Copper Gulch area near Globe, Ariz.

     Stormwater runoff from both sites may contribute to water quality problems in Pinal Creek.

     The Solitude Tailings Site, a 250 ft. tall pile, was created from waste from finely ground ore between 1926 and 1956 from the Miami Mine.  The tailings are eroding into Russell Gulch, which leads to Pinal Creek and eventually Lake Roosevelt.  

     The inactive mines in the Copper Gulch area, which operated between 1870 and 1930, are eroding into Copper Gulch which leads to Pinal Creek.

     "Stormwater discharge permits apply not only to active mines, but also to inactive, older mines," said Alexis Strauss, the EPA's Water Division director for the Pacific Southwest region.  "BHP has a responsibility to be covered by a permit,  and to control stormwater runoff from its inactive mines that flow into water bodies, especially Pinal Creek -- a creek already impaired by mining activity."

     BHP Copper must apply for the permits, control stormwater runoff from the mining waste, and monitor the sites quarterly for discharges.  A fine of up to $27,500 per day can be assessed for each day of non-compliance with each part of the order.

    The EPA and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality discovered the violations during inspections of both sites in June 2002.

     Beginning in 1992, the EPA required all inactive and active mines to be covered by a stormwater discharge permit in order to control pollution in runoff from mines.