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HYDRO26266
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Last modified
8/24/2016 8:45:46 PM
Creation date
11/20/2007 6:30:30 PM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
DRMS Permit Index
Permit No
M1999002
IBM Index Class Name
Hydrology
Doc Date
6/22/1999
Doc Name
FAX COVER VIC INFO
From
MCGIHON & LEFFERT
To
CHUCK WILLIAMS
Media Type
D
Archive
No
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6-21-1999 7:07PM <br />' GIHON <br />-EFFERT <br />~.~: <br />A +ers nr Lnst <br />FROM~IHON <br />Mr. Chuck Williams <br />Page 13 <br />June 21, 1999 <br />ASSOCIATES 303 d36 939 <br />Ill. THE DRAFT PERMIT DOES NOT COMPLY WITH THE REO~UIREMENTS <br />OF THE SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT. <br />P. 1 d <br />The Safe Drinking Water Act'a UIC program regulates the subsutface~ emplacement <br />o! fluids that may endanger an underground source of drinking water. Sec 42 U.;i.C. §§ 300h - <br />300h-5. Though states may obtain primary permitting and enforcement responsibility under the <br />Act for the UIC program, EPA retains the authority to issue the Class III permits sought by <br />American Soda in Colorado. See 40 C.F,R. § 147.301. EPA's rules implementing the UIC <br />program prohibit the issuance of a UIC permit if the proposed injection will result in [he <br />movement of fluid containing contaminants into an underground source of drinking water and <br />may cause a violation of SDWA primary drinking water regulations or adversely affect the health <br />of persons. See id. § 144.1(g). . <br />The lack of ground water baseline data in the American Soda DEIS makes it <br />impossible for EPA to determine that the S50 wells proposed for the Yankee Gulch Project will <br />not degrade underground sources of drinking water ("USDW"), as required by the SDWA. For <br />that reason alone, EPA may not issue the proposed permit. <br />Entirely separate from EPA's obligations under NEPA to establish baseline (see <br />discussion above), the Agency also must establish baseline to meet its substantive permitting <br />obligations under the SDWA. Indeed, the determination of baseline is if anything mote <br />important here, because EPA must know what baseline ground water quality in ¢he area is in <br />order to determine: (1) whether there are underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) in <br />the area; and (2) whether water quality in them maybe degraded as a result of rile activities <br />proposed to be permitted. Without this knowledge, EPA cannot issue this permi[ legally. <br />In the Draft Statement of Basis, EPA notes that USDWs arc "probably" confined to <br />the Upper Aquifer (the Uinta Formation). DSOB at 6. EPA also concludes that the Mahogany <br />Zone which separates the Upper and Lower aquifers is "a semi-confining zone" and "is adequate <br />[o provide an effective barrier to upward movement of fluids from the injection zone." Id. <br />Nowhere does EPA demonstrate that it has done the requisite technical work-or that American <br />Soda has submitted adequate information-upon which to base these sweeping conclusions. <br />As I noted above, the baseline data included in the DEIS is inadequate as a basis upon <br />which to conclude whether USDWs exist with'm the area of review for this permit. T11c majority <br />of these data come from literature that is almost 20 years old, or older. The newer data conic <br />solely from 3 test and monitoring wells drilled by American Soda in one small area of the project. <br />Additionally, as described above, one of the three wells-20-1-has produced data whose <br />accuracy has been questioned and which have been described as anomalous everi by American <br />13 <br />
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