page_title: New Idria Mercury Mine
section_title: Cleanup
hierarchical_section_title: New Idria Mercury Mine / Cleanup
caption_attribution_description: English: 360 degree panorama in the center of the New Idria ghost town. Photo by Gregg M. Erickson
context_page_description: The New Idria Mercury Mine encompasses 8,000 acres of land in the Diablo Mountain range, incorporating the town of Idria in San Benito County, California. Idria, initially named New Idria, is situated at 36°25′01″N 120°40′24″W and 2440 feet above mean sea level. The area was, in the past, recorded in the US Census Bureau as a rural community; however, Idria has become a ghost town since the closing of once lucrative mining operations in the early 1970s.
  In 1990, the United States Environmental Protection Agency investigated the mercury contamination level in soils, groundwater, surface water, and air of Idria, and concerned with the impact that the mining industry had had on the local environment. However, the contamination was not ranked high enough to be listed on the EPA’s Superfund Site List, nor its National Priorities List.
  On March 10, 2011, after the site had been reassessed in 2002 along with an expanded site in 2009, the EPA finally proposed adding Idria to California's Superfund List.
context_section_description: The proposal to add the New Idria Mercury Mine to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund List was made in March 2011. EPA worked to re-rout the acid mine drainage out of the way of the waste pilings, construct a settling pool for the AMD, and minimize the erosion of the pilings into San Carlos Creek. These actions were completed in November 2011, with follow-up investigations scheduled for late 2013.
caption: 360° in the center of the New Idria ghost town.
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