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Page 6 Purgatoire River Fish Kill Report 03/24/86 Aragon and I returned to the New Elk Mine to advise Augustine of the dying fish at the lower limit and show him the larger Brown Trout collected. At the mine office we met with Augustine and Stout who had just arrived on the scene. I telephoned Tom Lytle, Southeast Region Assistant Regional Manager of the Division of Wildlife and obtained approval for Wyoming Fuel Company/CORE to obtain and test fish taken from the Purgatoire River kill zone. The fish Aragon and I had just taken were photographed by Vice President and General Manager of Mine Operations, Charles McGlothlin, Jr., and taken by them to include in their sample analysis. Stout wanted to begin his on-site investigation so Aragon and I returned with Augustine and Stout to the Purgatoire River near the upper limit of the kill zone. Stout took fish samples and began diagrams of areas sampled. He also took sediment samples. He examined the effluent site and immediately below in the Purgatoire as did Augustine, Bangeman and Booth. Following investigation of the point of the kill site, we traveled to the Duran residence and began searching the river downstream. Stout and I walked in the river from the Duran residence to Weston and established the lower limit of the kill approximately 3/4 mile above Weston. In the lower portion of the kill zone we counted 95 Browns and 13 Western White Suckers and Long Nosed Dace dead. In addition we classified 8 Brown Trout in the 8" to 12" range that were "gilling" (i.e., on their sides, unable to swim in current, working their gills slowly, etc.). These fish were easily caught by hand and were obviously dying. Stout classified 13 live Brown Trout also in this section. This last figure adds credence to our classification of the lower limit of the fish kill. Stout advised that he would examine the Purgatoire River above the Golden Eagle and New Elk Mines on March 10. I told Stout co contact me immediately if he found dead fish anywhere above the Ciruela effluent during his investiga- tion. I returned [o Trinidad and telephoned AWM Velarde to update him on the investigation and advise of the discovery of additional dying fish. On March 10 I contacted Lundberg and described the increased total and status of the investigation. I also advised Melby of the discovery of dying Brown Trout at the lower Limit of the kill zone. Both Me1by and Lundberg made plans to visit the site on March 11. I began the written narrative and during the process received a telephone call from Mr. Kolin, Wyoming Fuel Company Manager of Engineering. He said that he had informa- tion that might assist in the investigation and would call back within the hour following clearance [o release the information. Kolin returned the call in one hour and said chat Wyoming Fuel Company had used a coagulant named Nalco 8852 in the settling ponds. The coagulant used to gather suspended solids was used for the last several months and was termed non-hazardous and capable of use in potable water. However, Kolin said the problem is Nalco 8852 can be hazardous to fish in certain concentra- tions and suffocates anything that breathes with gills. At concentrations of 1/2 ppm trout are particularly sensitive to suffocation but it is not hazardous to any other animals. The Nalco 8852 normally drops out with solids but if placed in clear water will go on through. Kolin said it