Hollister
– A piece of San Benito County’s history may be vanishing.
Hollister – A piece of San Benito County’s history may be vanishing.
Although the New Idria Mercury Mine has been sitting dormant for 30 years, Santa Cruz resident Ray Iddings said vandalism is a major problem.
“The history is rapidly disappearing … through theft and vandalism,” said Iddings, who is the president of the New Idria Preservation Project.
As one example of the continued theft, Iddings said a headstone featured in a 2006 Free Lance photograph has been stolen.
Iddings said the county has an opportunity to preserve the land for public benefit, since the historic mining site is owned by a defunct nonprofit organization.
“I’d like to see the county to intervene and help us get the property into a trust,” Iddings said.
In 2002, Sylvester Herring – whose nonprofit group the Futures Foundation owns the mine – pleaded no contest to five counts of criminal pollution and was ordered to pay $200,000 in fines. The Free Lance attempted to contact Herring on Friday, but his listed number had been disconnected.
The mine is a state historic landmark, and Iddings said it’s being considered for the National Historic Registry.
“The town is of such significance that there’s no question that it’s going to happen,” Iddings said. “The question is just when.”
New Idria lies south of the Panoche Valley in Supervisor Reb Monaco’s district. Monaco agreed that vandalism is a huge problem at the mine site and the old mining town, and he said he’s open to seeing Iddings’ group take over the land.
The mine was one of North America’s largest mercury producers during the 19th and 20th centuries, and served as the top supplier of mercury for the U.S. Department of Defense in World War I. Since the mine closed, acidic water flowing out of the mountainside has polluted nearby San Carlos Creek, turning the water bright orange.
Monaco said there is no quick and easy answer to cleaning up the site, but he emphasized that as long as he is supervisor, the county will not end up owning the mine.
“It does not belong to the county and has never belonged to the county,” Monaco said. “Should we take control of land that has already been deemed environmentally hazardous? I don’t think so.”
The county received a $200,000 grant in 2004 to assess the extent of pollution at the mine site. A big part of that effort involved locating the previous owners of the mine. In fact, County Integrated Waste Management Director Mandy Rose said the grant was closed last June because one owner, Buckhorn Industries, came forward.
Rose said the mine’s previous owners, not taxpayers, should foot the bill for the cleanup. However, she noted that Buckhorn Industries was only mine’s most recent operator, so it would be unfair to stick them with the entire bill.
Now that the grant has been closed, Rose said, the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board has taken charge of cleaning San Carlos Creek.
According to Lonnie Wass of the water board, the agency has a list of 40 abandoned mines that it needs to clean up, and New Idria isn’t a priority. That’s because no one drinks the creek water, Wass said, and the water travels for more than a mile before it percolates into the ground.
Idding acknowledged that cleanup efforts are needed, but he said that the site’s danger has been exaggerated.
More information about the New Idria Preservation Project is available at www.new-idria.org.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
