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JUL '( 111, 115 <br /> To the editor: MINED LANL; <br /> Mid-Continent has come under fire recently because of the coaOEC' <br /> burning power plant that it wants to build near Carbondale. While this is <br /> obviously undesirable, it is not the only area of concern. The Crystal <br /> Valley Environmental Protection Association (CVEPA) has for years been <br /> trying to get Mid-Continent to control the same coal waste that it wants <br /> to burn, and to keep it from washing down Coal Creek and into the Crystal <br /> River. <br /> We have met with some success, but there have also been some <br /> disasters. In January and February of 1989 the river ran black for 39 days <br /> as the coal waste ran untreated into the river. Because of this and other <br /> violations in the past, Mid-Continent was required by the Mined Land <br /> Reclamation Division to find an alternate treatment for the coal waste. <br /> They agreed upon sending all the waste through a wash plant, and having <br /> settling ponds only as a back up. The wash plant was supposed to have <br /> been built and in operation about eight months ago, yet it has not happened. <br /> Mid-Continent contracted with a business to build the plant, and the <br /> business ended up going bankrupt, taking some of Mid-Continent's money <br /> with it. In the mean time, Mid-Continent has found a flocculent that <br /> settles the coal faster in the settling ponds, and has completed a by-pass <br /> system so that the ponds can be cleaned without polluting the river. While <br /> this is commendable, it is no alternative to the wash plant. <br /> Extreme weather, as happened in the winter of 1989, or an accident <br /> by a worker, as happened later that year, could end up causing more <br /> disasterous releases of coal into the river. The wash plant must be built. <br /> Mid-Continent will have to swallow it's losses and contract with a new <br /> company or build the plant itself. We congratulate Mid-Continent on the <br /> steps it has taken recently, but see these as only a small beginning toward <br /> resolving the coal sedimentation proble that has plagued the river for <br /> years. <br /> Peter Wes Cott <br /> president, Crystal Valley Environmental <br /> Protection Association <br /> (963-3883) <br /> copies to: Mined Land Reclamation Division, Pitkin County Commissioners, <br /> Garfield County Commissioners, U.S. Forest Service, Roaring Crystal <br /> Alliance <br />