GENERAL32974 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

;; ANACONDA Minerals Company 555 Seventeenth Gtreel Cenv~;, Colorado &0202 bale?hone 303 575 4000 December 20, 1982 ~~I II~II~I~~II~~II~ t~~ i°A?-l: as ,. 'na i..'.i/' Mr. Robert Liddle Reclamation Specialist Mined Land Reclamation Division Colorado Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman Street Denver. CO 80203 Dear Bob: DEC ~' 198? PrNrdrt~ iAr:~~~ RcCl.?,`~lP(„±;N Colo. Dept. of rratera; Rasaz~rcz~ Reference is made to CMLRD's Stipulation 35 issued as part of Permit No. C-007-80 granted to Atlantic Richfield in July, 1981 for its Mt. Gunnison Mine. Stipulation 35 requires that we submit a plan for monitoring the agricultural usage and produc- tivity of the North Fork Alluvial Valley Floor. A plan was submitted in February, 1982 and subsequently approved by your office in June, 1982. It is our understanding that the stipulation was included in the permit to ensure that our mining activities do not degrade water quality nor reduce water quantity in the North Fork of the Gunnison to the point where it adversely impacts upon the agricultural productivity within the North fork AVF. With regard to water quality, our water quality monitoring program requires that we monitor in the North Fork both upstream and downstream of our mining operation allowing for detection of changes in water quality brought on by our mining activities. Furthermore we are required by our NPDES Permit to monitor all of our mine site discharges and to meet effluent limitations designed to prevent degradation of water quality within the North Fork. With regard to water quantity, our mine is designed to recycle water throughout the facility thereby requiring minimal amounts of r;ae-up water from the North Fork. In addition, our water tithdrawals from the North Fork during the growing season are controlled by our water rights decrees. Taking all of this in consideration, it is apparent that there is little chance that our operation will significantly degrade the water quality or quantity in the North Fork. Therefore it seems that there is little benefit in continuing to monitor the agricultural productivity in the North Fork AVF since our current water monitoring program will provide a much more rapid and precise method of monitoring the impact of our activities in the North fork and subsequently in the AVF. ANACONDA IA in orals Company is a Oi+~sion of P~ImhcRlcMielECampa my A1AC0 oW0 (1 ~0Y(