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`12/10/98 <br />THU 18:1J FAS • <br />i <br />WESTERN I1gINING ACTION PROJECT <br />1405 Arapahoe Ave. <br />Boulder, CO 80302 <br />(303)473-9618 <br />Fax (303) 440-8052 <br />wmap@igc.org <br />Via Fax - Hazdcopy to Follow By Mail <br />December 10, 1998 <br />J. David Holm, Director <br />Colorado Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) <br />4300 Cherry Creek Drive South <br />Denver, CO 80222 <br />Re: Request for Investigation, Battle Mountain Resources Inc., San Lui~ Project <br />Dear David: <br />This letter is submitted on behalf of the Peoples Alternative Energy Se 'ces (PASS), by <br />and through its undersigned attorney, and regazds recent and ongoing concerns ith BMRI's San <br />Luis Project (Mute). PAES is anon-profit citizens groups that has been active! involved with <br />issues at the Mine for over ten years and has participated innumerous state ag y hearings and <br />discussions since 1988. PAES was party objector in the lengthy proceedings in~olving BMRI's <br />mining permit violations earlier this decade that resulted in the company being ven one of the <br />largest fines ever in the history of mining in Colorado. <br />p o02 <br />We request that the WQCD investigate gossible violations of the federal Clean Water Act <br />and the Colorado Water Quality Control Act. These laws prevent any unpenni d discharge of <br />pollutanu from a point source into waters of the state. Based on information re ived. from the <br />Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG), there is reason to believe at such an <br />unpermitted discharge has occurred and is occurring at the Mine. <br />flowing at approximately 10 to 15 gallons per• minute and discharged into the I~ito Seco." <br />Specifically, it appears that water containing elevated levels of mangane e, sulfate, TDS <br />and other constituents may have bern and may be currently discharged from B 's West Pit into <br />the neazby Rito Seco Creek. This belief is formed, in part, on information submi ed by BMRI to <br />the WQCD. In a November 2, 1998, letter from BMRI's Anne Baldridge to the QCD's Kathy <br />Dolan (emphasis added), BMRI admitted that: "On October 27's we noted a se in the streambank <br />approximately 200 feet downgradient of our backfillcd and reclaimed West Pit. a seep was <br />Attached to that November 2"d letter were lab results of a sample taken o#'that seep. <br />Among other parameters analyzed, the results show that manganese (dissolved) vas at 2.444 mg/1. <br />The receiving stream, the ltito Seco, is curtently classified as Aquatic Life, Cold 1, and Water <br />Supply, among other beneficial uses. The applicable standard for manganese is .105 mg/1. in <br />addition to this appazent exceedence, the same data res• its sb.owsa t.4at sulfztn -alas a*. 583.8 -c1, <br /> <br />