ONRT and Federal Agencies Release Final Restoration Plan for Environmental Damage at Chevron Mining Inc., Questa Site
The New Mexico Office of Natural Resources Trustee (ONRT), the United States Department of Agriculture (represented by the Forest Service), and the United States Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management (collectively, the “Trustees”) recently released the final Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (“final RP/EA”) for the Chevron Mining Inc. Questa Mine (“Site”).
The Trustees released the draft RP/EA for public comment in November 2017 for a period of 30 days. The Trustees considered all of the public comments received when developing the final RP/EA. The public comments received on the draft RP/EA and Trustee responses are provided in the final RP/EA. The final RP/EA also describes how Trustees will use natural resource damage settlement funds for the restoration, rehabilitation, replacement, or acquisition of equivalent natural resources and services that were injured by the release of hazardous substances from the Site. The Trustees’ overall restoration objective is to compensate the public for these injuries through the implementation of restoration projects that provide comparable services at or near the Site. The Trustees carefully evaluated each of the groundwater and aquatic resources restoration proposals submitted and the restoration projects selected by the Trustees for implementation are described in the final RP/EA.
Funding for the restoration projects derives from a $4,000,000 settlement for natural resource damages reached between the Trustees and the Responsible Party.
The final RP/EA along with more information regarding the Site can be viewed on the internet at https://onrt.env.nm.gov/chevron-molycorp-mine/.
The final RP/EA may also be requested from the N.M. Office of Natural Resources Trustee, 121 Tijeras Ave. NE, Ste. 1000, Albuquerque, NM 87102, phone (505) 222-9546 or viewed at the following public libraries: Questa Public Library, 6 ½ Municipal Park Road, Questa, New Mexico 87556 and Taos Public Library, 402 Camino De La Placitas, Taos, New Mexico 87571.
