Red Lady Forum focuses on standards, water rights and prospecting plans

Keeping community informed about issues on Red Lady

Nearly every year the High Country Citizens’ Alliance (HCCA) holds a forum to keep the community apprised of plans to mine molybdenum from Crested Butte’s beloved Red Lady, Mount Emmons.

This year HCCA’s staff and attorney took June 23 to talk about water quality, water rights and a plan to start digging for signs of moly on the mountain.
HCCA protested the latest Plan of Operations for Surface Disturbing Baseline Studies (PoO) submitted by the Mt. Emmons Moly Company and U.S. Energy Corp. on March 31. HCCA executive director Dan Morse says the companies are hoping to get more information on the geography and environment of the mountain, using soil and water samples and geotechnical data.
“The Forest Service is reviewing their proposal and it is likely to start an Environmental Analysis… but no one knows how it will turn out,” Morse says, adding that the plan might include the use of a helicopter by the company to conduct tests in roadless areas.
In the protest letter, HCCA says the plan application is incomplete and notes concerns about the effects the proposed baseline studies will have on wildlife and recreational users in the area.
Morse feels the plan was submitted in part to satisfy a water right decree granted by a water court in 2002 that stipulated the mining company had to submit a detailed mining plan of operations by April 2, 2010.
The issue of holding a water right has also led HCCA into litigation. Speaking about an ongoing water rights diligence case, Morse says, “We are continuing our work to ensure that the companies are strictly complying with state water law and not speculating with their conditional water rights.”
Along with its push for the federal government to keep a close eye on the impacts the mining company’s probing might have on the area surrounding Crested Butte, HCCA is also working to make sure the state does its part to minimize the impacts to the area’s water.
HCCA helped win a victory for standards set by the Colorado Water Quality Control Division for molybdenum content in surface water, which the state ultimately set at a 210 microgram-per-liter standard “to protect human health,” the division says.
But there are still concerns with the mining company’s plans, including a proposed drift, or horizontal tunnel, that is being proposed in the PoO that would bring tons of waste rock to the surface and into contact with the environment, which will likely have adverse impacts of its own.
Morse says the sulfide bearing rocks below ground will be exposed to rain and produce an acid run-off that could degrade rocks containing heavy metals, like cadmium and zinc, that would be set free to contaminate the valley’s surface water.
“We’ve been providing a lot of comments to the state that they are using to review the proposal for the drift. We would like to see some major modifications to the technical side with a need for more public involvement,” Morse says, adding, “It could be as soon as a few weeks before the state issues approval, or it could take longer.”
Morse explained that the forum is an opportunity for HCCA to keep its members and the public informed about the constantly evolving situation involving the mining companies and the mountain and to keep the urgency of those plans fresh in everyone’s minds.