Report: U.S. must secure closed mines

WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- An inspector general's report calls on U.S. government agencies to secure abandoned mines to protect the public from environmental hazards and accidents.

Earl Devaney, inspector general for the Interior Department, visited abandoned mines in 45 areas, mostly in Arizona, California and Nevada, The Washington Post reported. He interviewed 75 employees with the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service.

Areas around some mines have "dangerous levels of environmental contaminants, such as arsenic, lead and mercury," he found. He also said 12 people were killed in accidents between 2004 and 2007, including two young sisters killed when their all-terrain vehicle fell down an abandoned mine shaft near Chloride, Ariz.

Devaney said he also found signs the Bureau of Land Management has tried to conceal problems.

"One employee stated that adding sites to the inventory list and declaring them unsafe was more detrimental to bureau because doing so acknowledged a hazard and a potential liability," he said in his report.