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<br />.L.. .......u...... Q.1.1U ....../ U""- -u' u..u........."" -'....- <br /> <br />- -0- - . -- -~ <br /> <br />gotten the message: The legislature would not tolerate interference with <br />mining, Baldndge said. <br /> <br />Several workers took Jobs in the private sector, including Baldridge. <br />Eventually, she ended up at the company Galactic hired to draft a cleanup <br />plan for Summitville <br /> <br />By that time it was too late. <br /> <br />Acid spills into area's creeks <br /> <br />Behind the dike, the water was rising. In addition to the polluted water being <br />pumped back, spring snowmelt rushed into the pool from nearby Cropsy <br />Peak. <br /> <br />Water was sprayed on roads and fields to make it evaporate. <br /> <br />"Somebody came up with the idea that you could make snow up there," <br />recalled Wyman, the Galactic executive. "We made snow as many months <br />of the year as we could because snow does not all melt ... in the sunshine. <br />Some of it evaporates." <br /> <br />As alarming as the rising water was the acid in it. <br /> <br />When water flows over the newly exposed faces of fractured rock, it turns <br />acidic. The acid dissolves minerals in the rocks, such as copper and <br />cadmium. <br /> <br />The acidic, mineralized water kills aquatic life. <br /> <br />As in many western states, the rocks in Colorado's mountains are highly <br />acid-forming. <br /> <br />Galactic's huge mining equipment was ripping the face off South Mountain, <br />creating an enormous, acid-generating scar. Nearby, a new mountain of <br />acid-generating waste rock was rising. <br /> <br />Even the roads, calVed from the hillsides to bring ore to the cyanide <br />leaching area, produced acid. <br /> <br />And then it got worse. <br /> <br />At some point, the company's giant diggers tore through to the abandoned <br />19th century mines. A deluge of acidic water from the Galactic pit inundated <br />the old mines, then flowed into area creeks through the system that drained <br />the abandoned pits. <br /> <br />Cyanide evaporates quickly, especially on sunny summer days. But acid <br />lasts indefinitely. And more of it is produced every time rain or melting snow <br />flows over acid-generating rock. <br /> <br />In 1989, the company opened a water treatment plant in an effort to legally <br />dump the water building up behind the dike. But the plant never worked <br />properly, and the company spent its few remaining years quarreling with the <br />state's Water Quality Control Division, which refused to allow water to be <br />discharged. <br /> <br />Meanwhile, the acid was entering the Alamosa River. And poisoning the <br /> <br />http://www.denver-rmn.comlnews/0507 smmt l.shtml <br /> <br /> <br />517100 <br />