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contribution to the region. The beneficial uses for the relatively short segment length for which <br /> Homestake claimed difficulty in meeting the standard were found to not bear a reasonable <br /> relationship to the economic consequences of the uranium standard. Thus the Commission <br /> adopted a proposal for resegmenting Indian Creek to accommodate both Homestake's concerns <br /> and the beneficial uses to be preserved by the uranium standard. This action was found to not <br /> significantly impact the beneficial uses of the stream while eliminating the potential economic <br /> cost of the proposed segmentation. <br /> Blue Ribbon Coal Company was concerned with the accuracy of the proposal for Hubbard <br /> Creek. They do not currently, nor plan to, discharge into this segment and indicated no specific <br /> economic cost to be attributed to the proposed classifications. Because the Commission found <br /> the evidence to be supportive of the proposed classification, and because no specific economic <br /> consequences were in evidence to mitigate the benefits of the proposed classification,the <br /> Commission found the most economically reasonable position was to support the classification <br /> of Hubbard Creek as proposed. <br /> ARCO was primarily concerned with the accuracy of the classifications and was interested in the <br /> controversy surrounding the different techniques for measuring the presence and concentration <br /> of heavy metals. No specific evidence was offered indicating economic costs to be associated <br /> with these standards. Because the Commission found compelling evidence to support the <br /> protection of beneficial uses through the proposed classifications and that there were no <br /> offsetting economic consequences, the most economically reasonable course of action was to <br /> retain the proposal. <br /> The Idarado Mine ("project") currently is not in active operation but is permitted to discharge <br /> into the San Miguel River for which Cold Water, Class 1 Aquatic Life was retained as a <br /> classification. The Commission found this classification to the reasonable in respect to the <br /> Idarado Project for several reasons: one,the future of the project is uncertain both to its <br /> economic viability and whether and when it will start active operations; two, no specific <br /> economic impact evidence was offered to measure against the beneficial uses of the San Miguel <br /> as a fishery; and three, the Idarado Project has available to it the option of discharging into Red <br /> Mountain Creek which was found to be so severely impacted by past and current human <br /> activities that no metals numbers were assigned as standards and virtually no beneficial uses <br /> were in evidence to be protected. The Commission found this to be the most economically <br /> reasonable manner in which to deal with the concerns of the Idarado project. <br /> Union Carbide indicated a potentially wasteful economic impact that would result from the <br /> ammonia standard proposed for the mainstem of the San Miguel River. They testified that they <br /> use ammonia to stabilize the pH of their process water and that while they could meet the <br /> standard for part of the year with their current operational scheme,they could not meet the <br /> standard on a year-round basis. Union Carbide stated that they are currently planning a treatment <br /> facility that would be of the no-discharge type at an estimated installed capital cost of around <br /> thirty million dollars but this facility would not be on line until sometime in 1986. Thus, if the <br /> standard was retained, they would be forced to build facilities in incorporate other pH stabilizing <br /> techniques in the interim at an installed capital cost of between $730,000 and $1, 000,000 with <br /> an annual operating cost of approximately $200,000. The Commission adopted a seasonal <br /> temporary modification until such time as the no-discharge facility will be operational. In light <br /> of the fact that the interim facility would be rendered useless after four years, the Commission <br /> found that cost to not be reasonable. The seasonal standard was adopted as economically <br /> reasonable since any exceedances of the underlying standards will be corrected when the no- <br /> 22 <br />