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22 acid from the shatte<ed batteries posed a threat to fish and other aquatic life bul did nol reach the creek. according to officials of Chemical Hmd1ing Corp. The company planned to remove approximately 2.700 cubic yards of dirt and place il md the bagged batteries in lined drums for transport to an out-of-state site. Source: Rocky Mounlain News 9130191 Tiger Team to Study Claims of Los Alamos Contamination A 15().membet panel from the U,S, Departmenl of Enetgy has gathered at Los Alamos National Laboratory to investigate whether radioactive material from the lab has contaminated the comnl\m.ity. The so~alled Tiger Team will review monitoring records and other data to see whether the nuclear bomb complex allowed deadly plutonium and other contaminants to reach the Rio Grande and other water courses. At the same time, the Energy Department is fmancing a $400,000 epidemiological study to detennine whether the large number of brain tumors in the area is statistically significant and whether it can be attributed to one cause. The study is separate from that of the Tiger Team. Source: Denvet POSI 9(29191 State Fines Coors for PoIlullng The Colorado Departmenl of Health has fined Coors Blewing Co, $211,000 for discharges into Clear Creek, Coors was fmed $175.000 for repeatedly discharging metcury, lead. copper, and silvet into the creek, md $36,000 fOI a 150,OOO,gallon beer spill lasl May thaI killed m estimated 13.000 fish in Clear Creek. Because of its water quality problems. Coors began operating a new $3 million treatment plml in April which il said enabled the brewery to meet state pollution limits for the past five months, exclusive of the May beer spill, In addition. Coors agteed to pay a $700,000 penalty levied by the Denver regional EPA office for violating federal hazardous,wasle laws, Coors agreed to the penalty withoul admilting or denying my liability, EPA officials said Coors knew it illegally discharged at least two industrial solvents into the gtoundwater from 1981 to 1984. bUI failed to report il to the agency until 1990, The pollution was !raced to leaky pipes beneath the company's container planl, Coors has leplaced the pipes. bul an estimated 1.300 pounds of the solvents TCA and PeE lemain in the soil beneath the planl, Coors plans to clean up the contamination by 1994, Source: DenVet Post 1013191, 10/4191; Rocky Mountain News 1013191 WETLANDS Groundwater Trust Awarded Wetlands Grant The American Ground W ater TlUs~ in cooperation with the Audubon Society of New Hampshire. has received a gtml from the U,S, Enviromnental Protection Agency to produce a booklel describing the hydrological relationships between wetlands and groundwater in the United Slates, Case studies of wetlands throughoul the nation will illustrate the.. relationships in diffeteDl geological and geomorphological settings md climatic conditions, The dynamic nature of the hydrological system md the effects of T~ . . . i. ;:' .. ..... '...."'-: \wI_.. OIUlual climatic variability on wetlands and ground water will be emphasized. Any suggestions concerning case sb.1dies or perspectives which could be included in "Ground Water and Wetlands in the United States." may be sent to the Trust's offices, The booklel is scheduled for completion by mid-I992. Source:POUNTS.Fall 1991 Experts Say Wetlands Denaltlon Unscientific; Study Suppressed Govenunenl experts involved in regulating wetlands have described the Bush adntinis!ration's proposed redefmition of the tenn "wetlands" as unworkable and scientifically unsOlmd. based on a nationwide field test. The documents summarizing the test program and containing the criticism have been barred from release by the White House but were obtained by the Associated Press. The sharpest criticism was leveled at a proposed requirement that an area must be saturated for 21 consecutive days or immdated with water for 15 consecutive days to qualify as a wetland These requirements. along with a new definition of a growing season and criteria on wetland vegetation. would leave thousand of acres of legitimate wetlmds unptolected, the experts said, Tesl results from around the country indicate that the new definition would reduce wetlands acreage. In some regions. from 30 percent to 80 percent of acreage currently classified as wetlands would lose its protection. The analyses include views from experts at the Army Corps of Engineers. the EP A, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Membets of a wetlands task force on the White House Domestic Policy Council. which played a key role in crafting the new defmition, have argued that only the raw data documents. not the analyses. should be available to the public. The period for public conunent on the proposed new guidelines ends Decembet 15, Source: Denvet Post 1\122191 & 11/17191. Fl Collins Coloradoan 11(24191, Rocky Mounlain News 11(24191 WesterD States Examine Proposed RedeflnllloD Controversy over the effect of the Bush Administration' s proposed redefinition of wetlands is sweeping several states. In Colorado. the redefinition would remove about 50 percent of the wetlands currently so classified. according to Gene Reetz of the EP A and wetlands scientist David Cooper of Colorado State University. But Ray Christensen of the Colorado Farm Bureau said it is unfair for farmers to pay property taxes on land that becomes economically worthless as soon as it is federally defined as a wetland. Steve Dougherty, a consultanl for ERO Resources of DenVet, which has represented some of the state's wetlands developers. argued that a proper wetlmds policy should have two parts, The flrsl part would create a scientific defmition of wetlands and the second part would require politicians to decide when protection should be applied to those defIDed areas. In Nebtaska, the redefinition could remove protection of more than one million acres of wetlmd, according to Jim Ducey. the direCtor of Preserve Our Water Resources. Among areas removed would be 85 percenl of wetlmds in the Smdhills. the largesl smd dune area in the Western Hemisphete and one of the largesl gtass-stabilized dune regions in the world, The hills make up one-quarlef of