Health concerns related to the Flat Creek-Iron Mountain Mine

According to a 2009 EPA report, contamination from the Flat Creek-Iron Mountain Mine consisted of four components: residential soil contamination in the town of Superior, contaminated drinking water sources, abandoned mine and milling properties, and contaminated sediments in and near Flat Creek. 

The report said that mine tailings were brought into Superior and used as fill, road base, and driveway material more than 40 years ago.  In 2002, the EPA did a remediated clean-up of the site. Mine tailings used as fill in Superior were removed which included the high school track, portions of the county fairgrounds, and a number of private driveways and roads.

However, since Flat Creek and the downstream Clark Fork River are both fisheries, the waste piles have open public access. According to the report ecological risks include acid mine drainage from an old mining adit reaching Flat Creek and surface water run-off and flooding. This has spread piles of mining and milling waste throughout the Flat Creek floodplain. Which has contaminated the soil and surface water, causing ecological risks for fish and wildlife.

In 2009, The Flat Creek Iron Mountain Mine Superfund site was listed on EPA’s National Priorities List (NPL).  In 2010 a Public Assessment report was released by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).  Based on that report, recommendations included that the waste tailings-contaminated areas should continue to be posted as a risk to public health and that remedial actions should be considered for these areas. The town soil should continue to be tested to confirm the success of the 2002 removal action. Hall Gulch should continue to be posted with warning signs.  And “efforts to reduce drinking water exposures from Flat Creek intake should be made because antimony and lead levels in the creek water are above regulatory guidelines.”  The full report can be found at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/FlatCreekIMM2010/FlatCreekIMM1-6-2010.pdf.

Also in 2009, the Superior Technical Assistance Committee (STAC) was formed by interested community members. According to the committee’s facilitator, Anita Bailey, the purpose of the committee was to promote public participation in the Flat Creek Iron Mountain Mine EPA Superfund project. 

She also noted that the group is funded by a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) from the EPA. This allows the group to hire an independent technical adviser, not associated with any of the government agencies, to answer questions and provide professional review for STAC and the community. Interested community members can contact the STAC office which is located in the Mineral County Chamber Office at 102 River Street in Superior.