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<br />• Page 7 <br />December 14, 1998 <br />BMRI believes that the french drain and well will be adequate to remedy this situation, but we <br />certainly cannot confirm that as fact. It is possible that there are ongoing discharges into the Rito Seco <br />through the Rito Seco alluvium. We are especially concerned because our weekly i spection of the <br />site indicate that waters in the Rito Seco, adjacent to the discharge site, are not freez ng consistently <br />with other waters in the area. While ice dominates the beaver pond next to the s ep, the waters <br />immediately downstream from the seep are not freezing. We are very conceme that seepage <br />continues to this day. This seep cccured because of altered ground water movement iri the alluvium. <br />II. Surtace and Ground Water r]uality Is Not Being Protected <br />The "TR-15 Response Plan", discusses potential long-term remediation effort'. In fact, BMRI <br />has provided a timeline by which to prepare additional reports and determine the best urse of action. <br />Nevertheless, BMRI is violating ground water permit standards or state water quality tandards for at <br />least three different paremeters over a minimum of five monitoring locations tested in recent months. <br />Mast discouraging is the fact that Manganese levels in the Rita Seco have been reg larly outside of <br />permit standards for 4 years. <br />The DMG's failure to enforce a violation against BMRI, propedy contact the olorado Water <br />duality Division, or require treatment of polluted water at this time tacitly allows B RI to continue <br />violating ground and surface water condtions at the Mine site. Water quality is not be ng protected in <br />direct conflict with the permit, BMRI's Augmentation Plan, and State Regulations. <br />III. BMRI Has Never Been Permitted To Discharge, The Closed-loop System Failed <br />BMRI is only permitted to allow for stormwater discharge into the Rito S ro. BMRI was <br />supposed to maintain aclosed-loop hydrological system at the Mine. Neverth less, BMRI is <br />responsible for the recent discharge into the Rito Seco. This should be considered a vi lotion of permit <br />conditions. The Federal Clean Water Act and Colorado Water Quality Ad prohibits discharging into the <br />waters of the Rito Seco without a CDPS permit <br />IV. BMRI Failed to Dewater the West Pit <br />In early November, BMRI commenced remediation efforts to control the pollu ion of waters in <br />the Rito Seco resulting from the west pit seepage. While not discussed specifically in the November, <br />1998 "TR-15 Response Plan", these efforts have created a substantial amount of su ce water in the <br />west pit During construction of the infiltration trench, adequate drainage for tho waters being <br />pumped from seepage was not provided. Water began to rapidly accumulate when umping began. <br />Complicating matters, BMRI ceased operations of its west pit stormwater BMP(Be t management <br />Practice) completely preventing the ovedand surface discharge of accumulating water i the pit. <br />In mid-November, the accumulation of water was at its greatest to date. Cas al observations <br />indicated that as many as 5 acres of surface water was present in the Pit To this day, t least 1 acre of <br />surface water remains in the pit The remaining surface water existing in the pit suro, nds the closed <br />BMP intake. <br />During the initial MLRB hearings surounding the approval of BMRI's permit,I the CCCD and <br />San Luis area residents were promised by BMRI that standing water in the pit wr~uld never exist. <br />Consider for example the testimony of Gary C. Dobson from July 9°1, 1990. When ask d "would some <br />of your ore its have the potential to capture water?" Mr. Dobson response was "Wel don't anticipate <br />