Laserfiche WebLink
reinitiating drawdown and treatment of the mine pool, has not posted a financial <br />warranty for that part of the Order and has not paid any of the imposed civil penalties. <br />In addition, on August 13, 2010, the Division directed Cotter to submit a technical <br />revision and to submit an appropriate bond by August 23 concerning the mine pool <br />drawdown and treatment corrective action. See Division letter attached. Cotter <br />refused, stating it intended to file a petition for reconsideration and alleging that the <br />mine pool drawdown and treatment constituted a permit amendment, not a technical <br />revision. See Cotter's letter attached. <br />On September 1, 2010, Cotter's attorneys called undersigned counsel with <br />information about a discharge from the mine site. The following is a summary from <br />undersigned counsel's conversation with Cotter's attorneys, conversations between <br />Cotter and the Division, and Cotter's written correspondence: <br />(1) Since Cotter began capture and treatment of the alluvial ground water, water <br />quality samples from Ralston Creek have still had higher levels of uranium than <br />Cotter expected. As reported by Cotter, the uranium is at levels as high as 0.355 parts <br />per million in Ralston Creek, much higher than the applicable drinking water <br />standard. <br />(2) When Cotter was installing the treatment facility, Cotter found a pipe discharging <br />water into the alluvial area. John Hamrick of Cotter told Division staff on September <br />9, 2010, that Cotter found the pipe on July 21, 2010. Cotter did not report the <br />discharge from this pipe to the Division until Cotter's attorneys called undersigned <br />counsel on September 1. The pipe is down creek from the treatment facility and is <br />located on the bank of an old emergency storage pond. John Hamrick initially told <br />Tony Waldron of the Division that he estimated the water flow to be about 10 gallons <br />per minute but later changed that estimate to 2 gallons per minute. <br />(3) Cotter believes the pipe is conveying water from the mine pool, which Cotter <br />theorizes is the reason uranium continues to run high despite treatment of the alluvial <br />ground water. Cotter performed a chemical characteristic test on the water from the <br />pipe. Cotter states this test shows that the chemical characteristics of the water from <br />the pipe are consistent with the chemical characteristics of the mine pool water. <br />According to Cotter, the pipe water samples were very high in uranium (25 ppm) but <br />a comparison of radium and molybdenum concentrations showed radium and <br />molybdenum concentrations significantly different in the pipe water from that in the <br />mine pool (radium and molybdenum concentrations were much lower in the pipe <br />water than in the mine pool). See September 3, 2010 letter from Cotter. <br />(4) Cotter hired a borehole company to pass a video camera through the pipe. If the <br />pipe is found to be connected to the mine pool, Cotter intends to permanently seal the <br />end of the pipe.