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October 2, 2012 <br />Ms. Kelly Morgan <br />Water Quality Control Division <br />Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment <br />4300 Cherry Creek Drive South <br />Denver, Colorado 80246 -1530 <br />Dear Ms. Morgan: <br />RE: WET Testing — No Pattern of Toxicity, Outfall 013, New Horizon Mine, <br />CDPS Permit #CO- 0000213 <br />Western Fuels LLC — Colorado (Western Fuels) has enclosed the demonstration of "no <br />pattern of toxicity" for the Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing at the Western Fuels <br />New Horizon Mine, in accordance with Part I.A.4.c.i. of the Colorado Discharge Permit <br />System (CDPS) Permit #CO- 0000213. On August 7, 2012, Western Fuels notified the <br />Division of the initial failure for the sublethal (reproduction) statistics on the <br />Ceriodaphnia dubia species for the second semi - annual chronic WET testing on Outfall <br />013. The summary CDPS WET Test Report Forms from the semi - annual tests are <br />enclosed. Western Fuels collected three accelerated WET sample sets for analysis by <br />The SeaCrest Group, Louisville, Colorado, during August and September 2012. The <br />first sample (collected August 6 was broken during shipping; therefore, the first <br />complete accelerated test was conducted on samples collected from August 13 — 17, <br />2012. <br />The accelerated samples were analyzed for potential toxicity to the Ceriodaphnia dubia <br />species, as the sensitive species. No statistically significant sublethal effect to this <br />species (reproduction) was found in the second and third accelerated sampling events. <br />Enclosed are the summary CDPS WET Test Report Forms for these accelerated tests. <br />"Accelerated testing shall continue until: ... two consecutive tests pass or three of the <br />five tests pass, in which case no pattern of toxicity has been found," as described in Part <br />I.A.4.c.i. of the permit. Western Fuels believes that the WET test results on Outfall 013 <br />reflect "no pattern of toxicity ". Based on this finding, Part I.A.4.c.i. also states that "the <br />toxicity episode is considered to be ended and routine testing is to resume." Therefore, <br />Western Fuels will return to semi - annual analysis for both the fathead minnow and <br />Ceriodaphnia dubia species on Outfall 013 for the period January — June 2013. <br />