Lawmakers want reclamation bureau to oversee Leadville tunnel

There is no longer an immediate threat of a catastrophe at the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, which funnels contaminated water into a treatment plant and ultimately the Arkansas River in Lake County, but two lawmakers say the problem remains.

Blockages in the tunnel led Lake County officials to declare an emergency in early 2008 over fears that backed-up water could burst through the tunnel, threatening life and poisoning a source of drinking water for much of the state, including Colorado Springs.

Pumping has alleviated some of the pressure over the past year, and the emergency was quietly canceled in November.

On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, held a conference call with reporters to announce legislation that would give responsibility for the tunnel to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. That agency runs the treatment plant at the tunnel's mouth but has disputed that it is responsible for maintaining the tunnel or removing backed-up water.

"The (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and Bureau of Reclamation were literally looking at each other from across a table, unsure of which one of them had responsibility," Udall said.

The bills they will introduce in the House and Senate are identical to one that passed the House last year but was never taken up in the Senate.

"Hopefully our partnership will be more fruitful than (it was) previously," Lamborn said of the bipartisan bills. "We just need someone to step in and take responsibility."