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Public Comment of~ra~•el Mining Permits • Location: Animas River, Colorado Public Notice k's: 199475349,199575400,19947>343,199475346,199475347,1994753={6,199175260 To: John N. Reese hfr, Ken Jacobson District Engineer Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District 402 Rood Avenue, Room 142 1325 J Street Grand Junction, CO 81501-2563 Sacramento, CA 96 8 1 4-2 922 & pENVER Mr. John Farrow OFFICE Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment ggCg~;v2L~ 6Vater Quality Control Division 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South 1, ~... Dem•er, CO 80222-1530 AUil 1 3 ~!-•'~ From: Peter Butler, Ph.D. ~ ~~~~_ Gutar~ fb3id piticA Director, Friends oJthe Animas River d ~;;,~,-ass 8 Gaabgy Date: May 12, 1996 First, some people who submitted comments on these public notices were confused as to ~vh~;re to send them. Many comments may have only been sent to the Grand Junction office and not the Sacramento office. 1 hope these offices will communicate with one another to insure copies of comments reach both offices. The Army Corps of Engineers has purposefully given extensions to individual gravel mining permits in order to make all their renewal dates [he same year. By renewing them all a[ once, the Corp s is able to look at the cumulative impacts of gravel mining in the Animas. The Corps should not allow this ~~pportunity to slip away. The amount of material removed by mining companies is tremendous. All together, the permit applicant; expect to mine 1 17,000 to 143,000 cubic yards annually from the river bottom and are asking for latitude to mine up to 198,000 cubic yards per year. ~Ve simply do not know enough about the effects these mining operations have had and will have on the environment and property owners in the region to allow operations to continue without study. The two impacts that are of most concern are the possible re-mobilization of heavy metals and changes in river channel. Heavy [vtetals. The Animas River carries large loads of heary metals originating from the S ilverton region. As the river flows past Bakers Bridge, the velocity slows and the ph rises due to local limestone beds. The heavy metals may precipitate out in azeas being mined. Generally, dissolved and total metal concentrations decline as the river flows under Bakers Bridge do~an to Trimble Lane -- the area most heavily mined. Also. Hermosa Creek, which is not known to carry high concentrations of metals, joins the Animas in the stretch and dilutes the concentrations. However, a number of samples show higher concentrations of heavy' metals at Trimble Lane than at Bakers Bridge. Some of these sampling dates coincide with spring runoff when high flows may re-mobilize the heavy metals. But other sampling were taken during lo~v flow periods when mining operations occur. There grave! operations may be re-mobilizing heavy metals.