**TESTIMONY OF MARTHA RUDOLPH**

**DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS**

**COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT**

**BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER AND POWER OF THE**

**SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES**

**APRIL 24, 2008**

Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I would like to thank you
today for the opportunity to present Colorado's views on S. 2680, the
Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel Environmental Improvement Act of 2008. I
am here today to express Colorado's support for this bill. This bill
provides the clear authority and direction to the Secretary of the
Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation to take action necessary to
reduce the current level of the mine pool associated with the Leadville
Mine Drainage Tunnel (LMDT), to maintain the mine pool at a safe water
level, and to participate in the implementation of the California Gulch
Superfund Site selected remedy. We believe this bill addresses an
important issue to the people of Colorado, and its passage is critical
to the long-term protection of local residents in Lake County and to the
long-term protection of the Arkansas River ecosystem.

To understand the significance of this bill to the people of Colorado,
some background information is required. The LMDT is located in Lake
County, just outside the City of Leadville. Located at an elevation of
10,152 feet, Leadville is the highest incorporated city in the United
States. It is currently home to 3000 people. Leadville's history centers
around mining. So much so that, during World War II, miners in Leadville
were given exemptions from the draft in order to support the war effort
by producing strategic metals.

To facilitate the mining of these strategic metals, the U.S. Bureau of
Mines began construction of the LMDT in 1943 to provide continuous
drainage of the mines in the Leadville Mining District. The LMDT was
completed in 1952 to a length of approximately 12,000 feet. In 1959 the
Bureau of Mines declared the LMDT excess real property, and the Bureau
of Reclamation acquired ownership of the LMDT to augment its potential
sources of water supply for the Fryingpan-Arkansas project. Following
the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, the EPA issued the first
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the
LMDT in 1975. After several years of attempting to meet the limitations
in this permit, the Bureau of Reclamation eventually constructed a water
treatment plant at the mouth of the LMDT and began to treat the drainage
in 1979.

In the early 1980s, another mine drainage tunnel, the Yak Tunnel, had
what was called a "surge event" discharging enough tainted water to turn
the Arkansas River red for 20 miles. This caught the attention of the
EPA's Superfund Program, and in 1983 the site was added to the National
Priorities List. The listed elements of the Superfund site were the Yak
Tunnel, mine waste piles in California Gulch and its tributaries, the
waters in California Gulch that empty into the Arkansas River, and 11
miles of the Arkansas River directly below the confluence with
California Gulch. The EPA specifically excluded the Leadville Mine
Drainage Tunnel from the Superfund site based on the Bureau of
Reclamation's then existing responsibilities to treat the LMDT discharge
under the Clean Water Act.

Some confusion about whether the LMDT is part of the Superfund site has
arisen because one of the selected remedies for an area overlying the
LMDT sought the use of the LMDT and would require the Bureau of
Reclamation to treat contaminated surface water from the Stray Horse
Gulch area of the Superfund site. The Stray Horse Gulch area of the site
(called Operable Unit 6) has many mine waste piles contributing
contaminated surface runoff to California Gulch. The EPA and Colorado
identified different remedies to handle this surface runoff, and
ultimately selected the remedy that would collect contaminated water
from the area and direct it down a mine shaft connected to the LMDT. In
order to implement this remedy, the Bureau of Reclamation's cooperation
was needed to treat this contaminated water at its existing plant.

In an effort to minimize the additional impact on the Bureau of
Reclamation caused by treating this additional contaminated surface
water, and for other practical considerations, EPA incorporated the
following design aspects into the remedy:

-   Construction of a bulkhead in the LMDT to isolate the contaminated
    mine water naturally draining into the LMDT from clean alluvial
    groundwater;

-   Installation of wells behind the bulkhead and construction of a
    pipeline to convey the contaminated water to the Bureau of
    Reclamation's treatment plant;

-   Backfilling the LMDT's lower portions to prevent clean ground water
    from entering and flowing to the treatment plant, and to protect
    against collapse and failure (since the Bureau of Reclamation
    currently treats water that is significantly diluted by clean
    groundwater, this would decrease the volume of water to be treated
    and therefore decrease the Bureau of Reclamation's overall treatment
    costs); and,

-   Routing contaminated surface water from the Stray Horse Gulch area
    during spring runoff into the mine workings connected to the LMDT.

Ultimately this remedy would treat contaminated mine pool water
including spring run-off (thereby protecting the Arkansas River), reduce
the amount of water treated by the Bureau of Reclamation (thereby
decreasing its operating costs), and provide protection against
structural failure of the LMDT.

Unfortunately, despite many attempts by Colorado and EPA to convince the
Bureau of Reclamation to participate in this proposed remedy for
Operable Unit 6, the Bureau contends that it lacks the statutory
authority or mandate to treat this additional contaminated surface water
from the Stray Horse Gulch area. This long-standing position of the
Bureau of Reclamation has stymied Colorado's and EPA's efforts to
implement the selected remedy for Operable Unit 6. S. 2680 is needed to
provide the Bureau of Reclamation with the clear authority, mandate and
funding to take responsibility for the LMDT, and to participate in the
selected remedy for Operable Unit 6.

This Congressional action is more critical now than ever before. Since
the Bureau of Reclamation assumed ownership of the LMDT in 1959, there
have been many concerns regarding tunnel safety and potential
environmental threats. Due to a lack of maintenance, the condition of
the LMDT has deteriorated over time. There have been many collapses
within the LMDT beginning in the 1960's. Most recently, the mine pool
that feeds into the LMDT has increased to a level never before seen,
resulting in many new seeps and springs in the area, likely due to a
recent collapse within the LMDT. In November, 2007 the EPA sent a letter
expressing its concerns regarding the potential for a catastrophic
blowout of the LMDT to the Bureau of Reclamation, and on February 13,
2008 the Lake County Commissioners declared a state of emergency.
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter sent a letter to President Bush asking him
to request Secretary Kempthorne to direct the Bureau of Reclamation to
treat the water accumulating behind the blockage in the LMDT at its
water treatment plant to help reduce the build up of water draining into
the LMDT. Governor Ritter made the same request directly to Secretary
Kempthorne.

Fortunately, to address the immediate concerns of the high levels of the
mine pool and the pressure within the LMDT, EPA has begun pumping water
from the Gaw shaft located near the LMDT, and EPA is poised to commence
drilling directly into the LMDT to pump water from the upper reaches of
the LMDT and to transfer the water through a pipeline to the Bureau of
Reclamation's treatment facility where the Bureau has agreed to treat
this water before it is discharged into the Arkansas. While this action
responds to the immediate concerns of a LMDT blowout, it will not
address the long-term need for LMDT maintenance and a commitment to
reduce the mine pool and to treat contaminated mine and surface water
discharging from the LMDT in perpetuity. S. 2680 would provide the
Bureau of Reclamation with the necessary funding and the requisite
statutory authority to make that long-term commitment.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before this Subcommittee today.
I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.