LAKE COUNTY — According to county commissioners and a state senator here, a mine drainage tunnel owned by the federal government could soon burst with catastrophic consequences that could include billions in environmental damage and hundreds of lives lost.
You would think this would be what is making Leadville Mayor Bud Elliot mad.
Lake Co.
No, instead Elliot is furious at state Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, and the Lake County Board of Commissioners, telling the Rocky Mountain News that they “grossly mismanaged” the situation and alleging that they staged their joint calls for a state of emergency.
While the potential consequences of the tunnel bursting are up for debate, the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel’s fate has been a topic of conversation between federal, state, and local authorities for years. While Elliot maintains that he was left out of recent dialogues — and wasn’t consulted by Wiens before he set up a Web site demanding action (see SavetheArkansasRiver.org) — he has only himself to blame for failing to have his voice heard on the issue before now—a full two weeks after it first came to the public’s attention.
As nearly a billion gallons of contaminated water threatens to flow into his city (or as some allege, merely seep), he’s worried because skiers are canceling trips and real estate deals are falling through. We’re guessing that Elliot’s constituents have much more to worry about that a couple bucks in tax dollars going into the town’s coffers.
Now is not the time for infighting.