Last week CDPHE’s Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) withdrew both proposed changes and the entire General Permit entities used to regulate stormwater discharges from metal mining operations.
In last month’s Rock & Coal, we described the comments we filed, and the fact that several counties and other stakeholders, including Trout Unlimited, also expressed concerns with the Division’s proposed changes. The Division was criticized by many counties for not reaching out to explain the proposed changes and the impact they would have on properties in their communities.
We are unclear what this means for both existing general permittees and abandoned mines not covered by existing stormwater permitting requirements. We hope to hear directly from the Division when we schedule our annual meeting with them, which may not occur until the beginning of the new year. We will keep the CMA membership updated on this issue.
CMA would like to invite members to attend our next Water Quality meeting scheduled for October 18 at 9:00 AM. We will be having two special presentations regarding PFAS covering both federal and state regulatory approaches to this emerging issue. Thank you to Bob Gensemer of GEI, and Chase Holton and Jeff Kurtz of Geosyntec for providing these updates. Please let us know if you are interested in attending.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Jim Stark with the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety as he moves on to a new opportunity at OSMRE. CMA has valued Jim’s leadership of the Division’s coal program and his participation in CMA’s Coal Committee, and we look forward to working with Jim in his new role.
Finally, we want to let the CMA membership know that former CMA President Stuart Sanderson suffered a serious brain hemorrhage while in Reno, Nevada several weeks ago. Stuart is still hospitalized in Reno and his family is there with him. A Go Fund Me campaign has been established to assist with Stuart’s recovery costs.
