Akzo Salt Mine

In a letter to the editor entitled "Miner's wife questions Akzo" in the December 23, 1993 Clarion, Melissa Jacobs blasted Akzo's mining practices as greedy and unconcerned for its employees. Amidst her charges and questions, Jacobs asked, "Why are they creating unsafe conditions and endangering their own miners' lives by 'pillar robbing' the salt supports that stabilize the underground rooms?"

Although Plant Manager Ken Cox refuted Jacobs' contentions in a January 14 letter to the editor, Jacobs' concerns about the pillar robbing would indeed prove prophetic.

The so-called practice of pillar robbing was a controversial experiment which had been underway in selected areas of the Akzo mine since the autumn of 1993. A professional expert hired by PACE, Dr. Andrew Michalski of New Jersey, had condemned the practice as courting disaster. The mine management contended that the process would allow the roof to settle somewhat and actually become more stable, under the same principle which determines support of an arch. Cynics answered that the company was merely attempting to extract more salt at the cost of safety.

Mine policy for over 100 years had always been to leave 40-to-50 percent of the salt in place as a roof support. The even more cynical suggested the company was intentionally courting a roof collapse to "prove" the need for the stabilizing ash backfill.

The "earthquake" which took place March 12, 1994 was in fact the collapse of about one acre of the mine roof in the area where "pillar robbing" was taking place.

The collapse allowed an underground lake of groundwater to enter the mine. 5,000, then 10,000, then 20,000 gallons of water per minute starting flowing into the mine, along with toxic gases.

Startling effects were also evident at the surface, above the roof collapse, where the Route 20A bridge over Little Beards Creek settled. By March 24 the underground lake filling the mine had grown to 80 acres, but the company persisted in its hopes to salvage the mine.

Akzo contemplated stopping the flow with a concrete grout plug, while at the same time seeking DEC permission to temporarily pump the excess salt water into the Genesee River. Pumping permission was granted for 30 days, while the company drilled a series of wells in the vicinity of the collapse, which it hoped could be used to inject concrete into the collapse area and plug the flow of water.

Some of the drilled wells began spewing hazardous gas, which was ignited in order to prevent its escape into the air. Three such "torches" would burn for months and be visible at some distance from the collapse site.

The April 14, 1994 Clarion reported the formation of a 250 foot diameter sinkhole near the Boyd-Parker Park. Creek water flowed back into the sinkhole, creating a small lake. Plans for grouting continued to be pursued as mining experts and equipment from across North America were called in to assist in the effort to save the mine.

By April 21, The Clarion reported the possibility that the mine might indeed be lost to flooding-and the crippling economic effects the loss would entail. By April 28 the sinkhole had grown to 600 feet in diameter and water pumping was suspended, when it could not keep pace with the flooding.

With the future existence of the salt mine in doubt, questions about ash suddenly seemed moot. The May 19 Clarion reported Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) findings which pointed to the pillar robbing as the likely cause of the collapse. However, a final MSHA analysis reported August 17, 1995, would attribute the cause of the roof fall to "abnormal geologic conditions." Akzo was thereby cleared of any violation of government safety regulations.

On May 2, a second sinkhole was forming, about 300 feet across, in an area south of the existing sinkhole. A vast quantity of underground water continued draining into the mine. Random land subsidence in the region above and beyond the mine was being predicted, along with accompanying damage to structures and foundations, as well.

The June 9, 1994 Clarion discussed the likelihood that Akzo had resigned itself to the loss of the mine and was contemplating opening up a new mine in the Hampton Corners, Groveland area. Akzo v.p. Richard Thompson said the company was in discussions with landowners concerning the purchase of mineral rights for the new mining area.

In the coming weeks there would be an epidemic of reports of subsiding land, damaged foundations and wells rendered unuseable. Some of the afflicted ares were several miles north and south of the mine. Meanwhile, mine officials, apparently resigning themselves to the loss of the Retsof mine, set their sights on a possible new mine at Hampton Corners. Other possible new mine sites, in the Caribbean and western Pennsylvania, were also being studied by Akzo.

The days of the old mine were numbered, but miners went back to work, extracting as much salt as possible from unflooded portions of the mine, while the sinister underground lake kept growing.

Warning the "County could lose Akzo mine" in the August 25 Clarion, County Economic Developer Pat Rountree launched his efforts to muster local, state and federal government resources to assist Akzo with construction of the Hampton mine. A public support group, FANS (Friends of Akzo Nobel Salt) was also mobilized in support of keeping mining in Livingston County.

In October 1994, wells were reported going dry in South Avon and Fowlerville. Akzo began supplying bottled drinking water and trucked-in bulk water, stored in plastic tanks, for the affected residences.

At a public meeting reported in the October 27 Clarion, Dr. Hamish Miller, an expert hired by Akzo, said the 'small pillar' experiment was not the cause of the mine collapse. Miller's contentions would be contradicted in a study by the firm Shannon & Wilson, reported in the April of 1995. The S&W study had been paid for by Akzo and commissioned by a citizens' and experts' Technical Assistance Group (TAG) which Akzo had convened under a Memorandum of Understanding with the state attorney general.

Salt of the Earth

Act 2: Death of a mine

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