Lawmaker: Use abandoned tires to fill abandoned mineshafts
NOTE: Subs 2nd graf to CORRECT to ‘Affairs’ sted ‘Actions.’ A corrective moved March 3.
Photos Available (thumbnails, captions below)
By JAMES KING
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Monday, March 2) _ Arizona can address two major challenges, used tires and abandoned mine shafts, by dumping one into the other, the state mine inspector told lawmakers Monday.
“I want to take two negatives and turn it into a positive,” Joe Hart told members of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Rural Affairs.
Hart spoke in favor of HB 2278, sponsored by Rep. Russell L. Jones, R-Yuma, which carries a strike-everything amendment to allow tires to be used in abandoned mineshafts as long as they are covered with at least 10 feet of earthen material. The committee endorsed the bill on a 6-2 vote.
More than 10,000 abandoned mines have been inventoried in Arizona, according to Hart’s office. Of those, more than 1,200 are considered significant public hazards, something Hart called a potential liability disaster.
After the 2007 death of a 13-year-old girl who accidentally drove an ATV into a 125-foot-deep mineshaft near Chloride, lawmakers last session passed legislation allowing the use of inert materials such as concrete, asphalt and metal in mineshafts. But a proposal to add tires to that list died in committee.
Sandy Bahr, conservation outreach coordinator and lobbyist for the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, testified against the bill, saying the use of tires could pose a serious threat to the environment. Her greatest concerns: groundwater, wildlife inhabiting mineshafts and the potential for tires to burn.
However, Bahr said she would support a pilot program involving tires.
“We would have to see how it’s drafted,” Bahr said. “It still needs to have significant protection for our water resources and to address the risk of fire, which would be a huge problem.”
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is neutral on the bill, said Jim Buster, the agency’s legislative liaison. He called the legislation a work in progress and said ADEQ wouldn’t oppose it as long as tires aren’t found to leach harmful chemicals.
Rep. Patricia Fleming, D-Sierra Vista, and Rep. Christopher Deschene, D-St. Michaels, voted against the bill, with Deschene saying he was concerned about potential harm to groundwater.
“I think there are some concerns regarding the leaching of tires that are used in this manner,” Deschene said.
Meanwhile, Hart said he is working with private donors to raise money to fill mineshafts and added that he expects money in the federal stimulus package for the effort.
“I think we could also use this to generate some jobs and see the stimulus package work right here in Arizona,” Hart said.
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PHOTOS: Click thumbnails to see full-resolution images and download; caption information is in the file under File>File Info.
CAPTION FOR BC-CNS-MINE SHAFTS: Volunteers watch as donated cement fills a 28-foot-deep mine shaft Monday, Oct. 20, 2008, on state land near Gold Canyon. Rep. Russell L. Jones, R-Yuma, is sponsoring legislation that would allow used tires to fill abandoned mine shafts. (Cronkite News Service Photo/Deanna Dent)
Rep. Russell L. Jones, R-Yuma