At the Elizabeth Mine in Stafford, Vt., Ed Hathaway and his team of EPA-sponsored specialists have been seeing signs of college activities, lingering beer cans and lost sandals for quite some time.
In June 2001, "the copper mines," as Dartmouth students refer to the area, were designated an EPA Superfund site, approximately forty years after Vermont recognized the site as a water pollutant.
The EPA's Superfund program was established in 1980 to locate, investigate and clean up hazardous waste sites throughout the United States.
Ed Hathaway is an EPA project manager for 11 sites in the Vermont and Connecticut Superfund section, which includes Elizabeth Mine.
While the site exhibits alarming and hazardous chemical levels, the area that concerns most students -- where the bedrock cut meets the turquoise water -- "is one of the lower contaminated areas," Hathaway said.
"That water will not hurt them; concentrations are high enough to affect fish and other aquatic organisms, but not humans," he added.
While Hathaway does not advocate activity on the Superfund site, he said it does not appear to be a chemical hazard. Instead, Hathaway said the only hazard seems to be physically falling and getting hurt.
Kyle Judge '07 explained that students are aware of the physical danger.
"A lot of people were afraid to jump because it is considered dangerous and the cliffs are so high that you can barely see the water," he said. "But I just didn't care."
Noah Hall '07 echoed Kyle's sentiment, "It was a big rush, and hitting the water was painful. It was sweet, though, it's real pretty up there."
Other students are still mildly skeptical of being on or near a Superfund site. Andrew Knolton Fletcher '07 refuses to go to the mine.
"I heard that place was carcinogenic," he said
While efforts to mine copper and iron sulfate at the Elizabeth Mine were abandoned in 1958, "private property rules still reign," Hathaway said, adding that the EPA could invoke Superfund regulations to clear the land of any civilians when there is active work at the site.
Some of the most alarming chemical contamination can be found in the nearby woods, on the site of the old copperas, or iron sulfate, factories. Hathaway is also concerned with evidence of enriched lead in soils that far exceeds designated limits.
This coming fall, a remedial investigation report including a recently-completed human health risk assessment will be released to update the community. Since the site was first identified, only one residential well has been contaminated. Since then all residential wells have been confirmed clean, Hathaway said.
The EPA has been working to clean up the area since its Superfund designation. Several years ago, a dam that was holding back hazardous material showed signs of weakness, provoking the EPA to install a $6 million buttress to hold back the dam.
Hathaway said that some local residents have been disquieted with the Superfund efforts.
"There is more truck activity, noise and traffic," Hathaway said.
Since Superfund designation, a community group has met regularly with the EPA to discuss strategies for minimizing the impacts of the cleanup project on the community.
Other residents, Hathaway said, are concerned with the damage that activity at the Elizabeth Mines might bring to its historical record.
"There is a strong interest in preserving history up there," he said.
The Elizabeth Mine is one of the largest and most intact historic mining sites in New England, and includes the only intact cluster of hard-rock mining buildings in the region.
The site is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, although no efforts have yet been made.
