October 26th, 2006
The town of Silver City has taken out a loan for over $340,000 for the cleanup of asbestos from the former Hillcrest Hospital site.
The loan, which was taken out for a total of $342,560, was approved by the New Mexico Environment Department, and is being financed through the Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund.
The loan has been provided as part of an Environmental Protection Agency program. The NMED Secretary, Ron Curry, stated: “It’s gratifying that we can offer low interest loans like this to help clean up contamination at blighted properties. We are proud to partner with a responsible town like Silver City to help return an old site to a functioning facility that will benefit the town.”
The former hospital building contains a range of asbestos products that have caused the contamination. After the contamination has been removed town managers plan to demolish the building. However, the cleanup must be completed before this is done so that the air and other properties nearby do not become contaminated.

