Public Meeting to be Held for the Hansonburg Mining District Safety Project
Organization
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Socorro Field Office, in cooperation with the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department Abandoned Mine Land Program (AML) and Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement will hold a public meeting regarding the Hansonburg Mining District Safeguarding Project on Thursday, June 8, 2017. The meeting will be held from 5:30p.m. to 7:00p.m. at the BLM Socorro Field Office at 901 South Old Highway 85, Socorro, New Mexico 87801.
The partners are proposing to safeguard approximately 74 hazardous abandoned mine openings, including shafts, adits, subsidence areas, and other physical openings throughout the Hansonburg Mining District, which is located south and east of Bingham and north of the White Sands Missile Range in Socorro County, New Mexico. The area consists of approximately 1,752 acres of public lands administered by the BLM, Socorro Field Office (1,308 acres) and the State Land Office (444 acres).
The proposed project is being designed to protect the public from the hazards associated with abandoned mine openings, while preserving cultural resources and wildlife habitat. Safeguarding activities would include a variety of methods, including manually filling mine openings with surrounding waste material or polyurethane foam or building structural barriers that restrict human access, such as locking gates, cupolas, or other wildlife-compatible closures.
At the public information meeting, AML and BLM project team members will present an overview of the Hansonburg Mining District Safeguarding Project and will accept comments and questions. Comments may also be mailed by June 23, 2017, to Cassandra D’Antonio, Sites Southwest, 121 Tijeras, N.E., Suite 3100, Albuquerque, NM 87102, Attn: Hansonburg Project, emailed to cdantonio@sites-sw.com, or faxed to 505-822-8282. To request Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-related accommodations for this meeting, please contact Ms. D’Antonio at 505-274-0680 at least two days prior to the meeting.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.