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<br />s., <br />1Y <br />RIO BLANCO COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT <br />~II~ Se° i <br />tuna a++ ~1~ <br />GNCO C00 p~CEIVED <br />~EP 13 1999 <br />pivis~oa i:r ,vai ierals & Ge01o9Y <br />County Courthouse <br />Post Office Box 599 <br />Meeker, CO 81641 <br />(970)878-5081 <br />FAX (970) 878-5796 <br />September 9, 1999 <br />CERTIFIED MAIL #Z 102 518 494 <br />Lazry Shults <br />USDI Bureau of Land Management <br />~o' Q <br />White River Resource Area <br />Meeker, CO 81641 <br />RE: /Final Environmental Impact Statement/Yankee Gulch <br />S~~??dium Minerals Project (July 1999) <br />/VVI-IGR9-Zl7a <br />Dear Mr. Shults: <br />for the Draft EIS raised concerns about the hydrogeologic <br />characterization of this site. As a result of issues raised, American Soda <br />Rio Blanco County would like to provide the following comments <br />for the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Yankee Gulch <br />Sodium Minerals Project. Previous comments from Rio Blanco County <br />L.L.P. obtained the services of Dr. G. J. Saulnier, Jr., a recognized expert <br />in groundwater hydrology, who has worked professionally with <br />groundwater quality in Piceance Creek Basin. Dr. Saulnier prepared a <br />paper entitled "Groundwater Quality in Piceance Creek Basin" <br />(September 7, 1999) which reviewed undisturbed groundwater quality in <br />the Piceance Creek Basin as well as water quality data from the Yankee <br />Gulch Sodium Minerals Project site. This report described undisturbed <br />groundwater in the bedrock aquifers in the Piceance Creek Basin as <br />generally ranging from 800 to 1500 mg/L TDS in the azea of the Yankee <br />Gulch lease. In addition, it appears that the azea of the Yankee Gulch <br />lease has been subjected to previous inter-aquifer contamination by <br />fluids which are non-representative of groundwater in the Upper and <br />Lower Aquifers. <br />The findings of Dr. Saulnier aze consistent with issues raised by <br />Rio Blanco County and might help explain the data results at the Yankee <br />Gulch site which appeaz anomalous compared with undisturbed water <br />quality data in the. area. The inclusion of this paper or the information <br />contained within in the- EIS or Record of Decision could clarify many of <br />the issues previously raised by Rio Blanco County on the hydrogeologic <br />