Questa mine water plant still in the works

From the highway, the new water treatment facility at Chevron’s Questa mine looks big. But up close, the two-acre, five-story-tall building could aptly be called a behemoth. As crews and contractors work to get massive tanks, filters and heating and cooling systems installed, Chevron is pushing closer to its 2016 deadline to have the plant operational and to retire its existing tailings ponds and pipeline. That’s assuming they go by the “schedule for the plant to be functional by April,” said Mike Coats, site manager for the Questa mine, during a tour of the facility Thursday (Sept. 10). Having all the systems in place and running by spring gives Chevron several months to work out the kinks in the equipment and processes before the EPA-imposed October 2016 deadline. At that point, any potentially harmful water captured at or discharged from the Questa mine must go through the water treatment plant before going back into the Red River. If the treatment facility isn’t operational by this time next year, “it’ll gum up a lot,” Coats said. But on Thursday, about 12 different contractors were busy installing parts of the water treatment facility that will ultimately house nine massive tanks to treat all the groundwater and storm runoff at the mine site. After water runs through the plant, it’ll be cleaner than the water already running down the Red River, said Armando Martinez, environmental manager with Chevron Environmental Management Company (EMC), a Chevron subsidiary that’s in charge of remediation, reclamation and abandonment of mines throughout the world...more

They should request a restraining order...to keep the EPA away.