A Shuttered Mine and a Leaky Landfill
The Railroad Commission signed off on Alcoa’s land restoration work at its now-closed Sandow Mine last year. But a recent analysis of groundwater test results around a coal ash landfill that sits in the middle of the site shows high levels of toxic heavy metals. Alcoa was also allowed to remediate a 561-acre strip of land with a conveyor belt and haul road to lower restoration standards — allowing the company to put the land up for sale sooner.
Alcoa ran a smelter and Luminant operated a coal plant and coal ash landfill at this site.
A roughly
20-mile-long
conveyor belt moved coal from the Three Oaks mine to the coal plant.
Three Oaks coal mine