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ITEM 1 PICEANCE SITE WATER QUALITY Rio Blanco County (RBC) has expressed concern about water quality data collected by American Soda from groundwater at the Yankee Gulch Project site. Primazily, the county has noted that some of the water quality data collected by American Soda indicate that certain parameters are well outside the range of values that would be expected from the existing regional data. American Soda acknowledges that some of the data appear to be anomalous and that the reasons for the anomalies are unknown. American Soda believes that the regional data should be given careful consideration in evaluating the existing quality of the groundwater. It is not now, nor has it ever been, American Soda's position that the Uinta portion of the Upper Aquifer is poor quality water. The Uinta portion of the Upper Aquifer is an Underground Source of Drinking Water and should be protected from degradation. To minimize the potential for the collection and/or inclusion of anomalous data in the future, American Soda will implement the following measures. • An EPA-certified lab will be used for water quality analyses. An appropriate QA/QC program will be implemented by the lab. The QA/QC program will also address QA/QC procedures for any pazameters that require field analysis by American Soda (e.g., pH). • Standardized sampling procedures and protocols will be established and followed for all data collection activities. • A database of existing water quality data for the Piceance Creek Basin will be compiled for use in evaluating site-specific data. Use of the regional database will assist all pazties in interpreting site conditions and identifying any potentially anomalous data. American Soda is committed to the establishment of an economically feasible and technically viable groundwater monitoring program. To this end, American Soda has developed and submitted a draft monitoring plan to RBC and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for review. The final plan will include the measures discussed above. American Soda is continuing to consult with various resource agencies including RBC, the BLM, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in developing the final monitoring program. To avoid any potential misinterpretation of the data, a notice sheet will be inserted into the plan for all distributions. The notice will alert reviewers to the fact that some of the collected Water Quality 1-1, Rio Blanco County Additional Infonnatlon Request Piceance Mining Operanon American Soda, L.LP.