Plans to deal with sludge in Peel harbour are flawed and fail to address the bigger problem of pollution in the Cross Vein mines, according to Dave Richards, who has voiced concern over the problem for years.

Mr Richards was employed by the then Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry as a mechanical digger driver in the 1990s when, he said, he used to be sent up to the Cross Vein mines area - known as Snuff the Wind - to bury sludge seeping back out of the old mine shafts where it had been tipped years previously.

He says the latest plan - reported in this week’s Isle of Man Examiner - to store silt dredged from the Peel marina in nearby tanks and then use it to help landscape the mines area fails to address some fundamental problems.

’My main concern is not the naturally occurring heavy metals in the soil, but what has been allowed surreptitiously to be dumped down the mine.

’At one time used engine oil was dumped there and you could regularly see a Land Rover towing a bowser pumping oil down the shafts. There’s two 500-foot shafts with tunnels running vertically at 60-foot intervals so it’s an immense area,’ he said.

contamination

In addition, he said there was contamination from PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) from used electrical components, that were tipped down the shafts.

’After heavy rain, the water table rises and all this horrible sludge would come to the surface and contaminate the area. It had to be dealt with quickly so I used to be sent up there with the digger to shovel soil over it,’ he said.

At one time there was an attempt to dispose of the material by setting fire to it but this in turn releases more toxic materials, he said.

Another concern is how any contaminants removed from the Peel harbour silt will be disposed of.

’If they are going to wash that contaminated spoil, where are they going to put that water? Back into the sea?

’They haven’t explained how they are going to deal with it.’

The Manx Independent asked the government if the silt was to be decontaminated before use in the mines area and, if so, what would happen to the contaminants removed from it.

A government spokesman said: ’Following the draining process, which may take up to 18 months, the dried sediment will be spread on the damaged land at Cross Vein mine.’

The Manx Independent also asked whether anything would be done to address the problem of contaminants, namely the oil, chemicals and electrical components that were dumped down the mines years ago, that are now leaching into the watercourses and ultimately into the harbour in the silt.

The spokesman said: ’Tests have been undertaken that show the sediment is significantly less contaminated than the dust found at the former mine. As it will contain organic matter, DEFA specialists are confident the silt can be used to help restore the area as an attractive upland habitat.

’The project focuses solely on the safe removal and disposal of silt from Peel Marina.’

But Mr Richards is unconvinced: ’What are they going to do with the existing problem of what’s been dumped in the mines for years, and possibly still is? There are still no fish surviving in the river that runs down from the mines.

’The open grates are still there and if you look down, eight feet below, there’s sludge and oil still there. Some other mines have been capped.

’What is being done (storing and reusing the silt from Peel harbour) is a panic reaction and it’s not addressing the problem.’