1989-12-01_REVISION - M1988112 (5)

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III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII People's Alternative Energy Services ARNIE AND MARIA VALDEZ, CO-DIRECTORS Rt. 1 Bos 3-A San Luis, Colorado 8]152 (303.672.36021 November ~8. I •389 Mined Land F;eclamation Board i 3 ! 3 Sherman, F;oom 215 Denver, Colorado To Whom It I•lay Concern, DEC 1 19€9 MINED LHNU RECLAMATION D1VIS!Oly Peoples Alternative Energy Services (PAES), is anon-profit community devi•lopment Effort V operating out of ~an Luis srnce 19'0. We are concerned with the promotion of appropriate technology and energy conservation locally and regionally. In addition to these activities PAES has been a cooperative weather observer for San Luis since 1980 Statton 2-SE at San Luis has documented official maximurn and minimum temperature as well as precip tation for nine years. Several days ago we were asked to review the accuracy of Exhibit K: CLIMATOLOt'Y of a local plan for mining of the Rito Seco area by Battle Mountain Gold Company of Houston Te tas. Although we are not expert climatologists we have a long record of interest in documentelion of our local climatic and environmental features. In reviewing Exhibit K vre vrould like ti bring to your attention the following; .Weather data for the period i 890 to 1923 was gathered via the U.S. Postal Service at San Luis. The site is situated at approximately 79e+5 feet in elevation Exhibit K data is based on an elevation of 7,900. Although the differences seen slight, the accuracy of calculations based on estimations may be skewed. Working with an exact elevation can play an important part in mathematically estimating variations especially in calculating precipitation. This is especially true within the rainshadow of a mountain range such as The Sangre tle Cristos where dramatic increases in precipitation can be observed with increases in grade and the verticality of the topography 2. It is curious to note that Exhibit K never included nine years of comteruporary weather data gathered from Station 2- SE which is available from the Colorado Climate Center Department of Atmospheric Science at Fort Collins. It is our understanding that climatic data in order to be considered accurate should represent an average of thirty years worth of data with corntemporary up-dates every ten years.