_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981017 (249)

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r (2) Stations 2, (below Restone): "There were indications of some sedimentation at this station. ... The observed number of shredders in the community is generally found where the riparian habitat is in poor condition. ...Compared to fall data from 1990 at station 2, conditions appeared similar in 1991." The following are quotes from an article by Richard Parker which appeared in the Albuquerque Journal in January, 1995: "`That mine wiped out a whole section of the river' said Tony Fatapolous, a fishing guide in nearby Carbondale....Forest Service studies conducted in the late 1980's and early 1990's confirm what is visible to the naked eye: Coal Creek is caked with sediment, which it deposits into the Crystal River. Not all of the sediment which flows down Coal Creek may come from the mine, according to Forest Service resource specialist Diane Spencer. But the mine, shut down since 1991 and largely unreclaimed, remains a clear source of it. `It's obvious', she said. ... The mine also is a likely source of a so far unidentified toxic substance. `It appeared there were low levels of toxic materials transmitted to the Crystal River through Coal Creek', said the Forest Service study conducted in 1990. And that toxin, according to the study, further deprived the food supply of insects on which trout in-the river must rely. According to interviews with state and federal officials, no systematic review of the effects of the mine-where water still erodes refuse piles - has been conducted since 1991 as the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act requires. No one knows what's been happening in the creek and river since then." . The obvious source of most of the sediment and toxins coming into Coal Basin waters are the tailing piles and the roads cut into the shale slopes. These need to be removed, reclaimed and revegeted as soon as possible to stop the erosion. Any residential development in the basin will mean that that the roads will not be removed, new roads will be added, further degrading the quality of the water. The following quote is from a 1993 article in High Country News: "Tony Svados, a soil scientest with the U.S. Forest Service, says his agency is concerned about reclaiming the site because it manages land within and around 6,000 acres of company land. He says an urgent problem is the massive coal refuse pile held back from Coal Creek by a few spindly patchwotk oCtrees and grasses A trihtitary is also nibbliny> away at the pile's base. Another major worry, he says, is a 17 mile network of steep roads cut into the basin's loose shales. Some roads used for exploration in the 1960s have eroded into 30-foot -deep gullies." 3