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I have provide all materials need for this homework if you need anything ask me

 

CE 341: Introduction to Environmental Engineering

Homework #10: “Design Your Study” Part I

Due: 11/3/16 by 2pm

Place in my mailbox (West 134G) or Email to:

jillian.cadwell@tricity.wsu.edu

·
Problem Background
: The only uranium mining in Washington State was by Newmont Mining who mined on the Spokane Indian Reservation (Sherwood Uranium Mine and the Midnite Uranium Mine). Among Newmont Mining’s many holdings, its majority interest in the Dawn Mining Company, which until 1981 operated the Midnite Mine on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The open-pit uranium mine is the source of radiation and heavy metal contamination of Blue Creek, which flows into the Spokane River arm of Lake Roosevelt.

·
“Zone of White Death”
: Ecological stresses from metal oxide deposition, pH, and Zinc are common downstream of mine sites. Aluminum oxide can cover ecosystems with a white coating, which has varying impacts at different trophic levels.

·
Remediation Goal
: Reduce metal oxide deposition by 80% and maintain pH between 6.5 and 8.5. Restore ecosystem function to a “pristine” level within 5 years.

·
Design a remediation plan that addresses the following
:

· Purpose of plan (e.g. assess water quality, macroinvertebrate dynamics, etc.)

· Summarize initial study (from HW #9)

· Key biological/chemical/physical parameters

· Describe Site Assessment Plan

· What information must you know before deciding on remediation techniques?

· Other issues…

· Describe Remediation + Monitoring Plan

· Remediation Method (may want to do a book or internet search for remediation methods used in the field)

· Include any drawings/schematics

· Short-term and Long-term Monitoring (may want to do a book or internet search for monitoring plans that have been used in similar situations)

· Overall Project Timeline

Reading Assignment:

Please read the articles and reports included in “HW 10 Mine Articles” located on Blackboard under “Other Course Documents.”

Written Assignment:

I am an environmental engineering consulting firm looking to hire you as a consultant. Provide me with a 3-5 page written response in report format that addresses the remediation plan elements above. Please include an introduction (with background info) and conclusions in your report. Use diagrams, tables and figures as you see fit. Be sure to properly cite your sources.

Note: ABET-Accreditation Student Learning Outcomes for this assignment include:

a)
An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering

c)
An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability

d)
An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams

h)
The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context

Please look through the following articles and reports for HW #10 background info

Dawn Mining Co. Midnite Mine (Spokane, Washington)

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=1001070

(EPA Region 10), from HW #9 background reading

Decommissioning of Midnite Mine and Ford Uranium Mill and Tailings (USA)

Contents:

·

Dawn Mining Co. Midnite Mine (Spokane, Washington)

·

Dawn Mining Co. Ford (WA) Mill and Mill Tailings

ATSDR finds public health hazard possible at former Midnite Mine site; seeks public comments on draft public health assessment

People who visit the Midnite Mine should limit their time there to reduce the chances of being exposed to contaminants, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
ATSDR is seeking public comments on its draft public health assessment. Comments on the report are being accepted through July 20, 2009.

> View

ATSDR release June 12, 2009

The final public health assessment was issued in May 2010. ATSDR found that coming into contact with site contaminants over a long period of time could harm the health of people who practice traditional or subsistence activities in the mining-affected area. The agency recommends that people avoid using water from site drainages and from Blue Creek for drinking or sweat lodge ceremonies, eating plants or roots that grow in the area, and eating fish from Blue Creek.
> Download

Public Health Assessment for Midnite Mine Site, Wellpinit, Stevens County, Washington, May 19, 2010

(3.74M PDF)

EPA orders mining companies to continue cleanup work at Midnite mine

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a unilateral administrative order to international mining company Newmont USA Limited and its subsidiary Dawn Mining Company, LLC, to continue treating contaminated water at the Midnite Mine Superfund Site in eastern Washington State.
EPA’s Order requires the companies to continue operating a system that captures and treats water at the site to remove uranium and other metals. Failure to operate the system would contaminate Blue Creek, which flows to the Spokane River, and would delay the overall cleanup of the site. The Order was issued on Friday, November 7 to the two companies that operated this open-pit uranium mine on the Spokane Indian Reservation from the mid-50s until 1981.
Since starting water treatment in 1992, the mining companies have disposed of the resulting treatment sludge, which contains uranium, at the mill where they once processed ore. The mill, located in Ford, Washington, is being closed under Washington State authority. As a result, the mining companies must prepare to dispose of the sludge at an alternative disposal site. As low-level radioactive waste, the sludge will have to be taken to a licensed facility, such as U.S. Ecology in Washington State, until the treatment system can be altered to remove the uranium separately. (EPA Nov. 10, 2008)

Judge holds Newmont Mining Corp. partially liable for Midnite mine contamination

An international mining corporation must share the cost of cleaning up an abandoned uranium mine on the Spokane Indian Reservation, a federal judge has ruled. Newmont Mining Corp. holds majority interest in Dawn Mining Co., which until 1981 operated the Midnite Mine. The Environmental Protection Agency identified the open-pit uranium mine, now a Superfund site, as the source of radiation, heavy metals and acid contamination in Blue Creek, which flows into Lake Roosevelt at the mouth of the Spokane River.
Judge Justin Quackenbush, ruling from the bench in

U.S. District Court in Spokane

on July 14, 2008, held the Denver-based Newmont partially liable for the contamination. Previous rulings hold the federal government and Dawn Mining liable as well. If it withstands appeal, the decision means taxpayers won’t have to bear as much of the estimated $152 million cost of cleaning up the mine, which was in operation from 1955 to 1981 except for a four-year period in the late 1960s. (Spokesman-Review July 16, 2008)

Newmont refuses to pay $152 million cleanup bill for its Midnite uranium mine

There is a plan to repair the land around the Midnite Mine. But it will leave a lot of scars. Mining debris would be pushed into the open pits and covered. A factory would clean water leaking out of the mine for the foreseeable future. Blue Creek, it’s hoped, will eventually flush its pollution downstream and dilute it in the Spokane River. The plan is expected to cost $152 million. No one knows when it will be finished. That’s because no one knows who’s going to pay for it. Under the federal Superfund law, anyone with a hand in the pollution can be forced to pay for cleaning it. But Dawn Mining Co. has few assets.
That leaves two others: federal taxpayers, and Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp., Dawn Mining’s parent company and, today, one of the largest mining corporations in the world. U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush recently ruled the federal government is partly responsible because it controlled the reservation land where the mining happened. Newmont, meanwhile, says it shouldn’t have to pay because it didn’t manage the mine’s day-to-day operations. Newmont had a controlling 51 percent share of the Dawn Mining Co. It named a majority of the board of directors. Many of the mine’s top managers were longtime Newmont employees who remained on Newmont’s payroll while working at the Midnite Mine. An early agreement called for Newmont to manage “all operations” of Dawn. The EPA, which is suing Newmont to force it to help pay for the cleanup, says that’s ample reason for the company to get part of the bill. (The Seattle Times Feb. 24, 2008)

ATSDR releases report about health hazards at Midnite Mine Site

Current exposure to site-related chemicals should not cause harmful health effects for those living near the Midnite Mine site in Wellpinit, WA, says a report released by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
The report, called a public health assessment, found that uranium exposure in groundwater and its decay products was unlikely due to non-existent groundwater wells in the area. The document also states that possible exposure in surface soil and surface water did not occur often enough to cause a public health hazard. The report also shows that current levels of concentrations of radionuclides in the air and fish are not harmful.
However, if site use changes to residential, there is the potential for exposure to uranium and its decay products from surface and groundwater at levels of health concern.

EPA picks plan for Midnite uranium mine cleanup

The cleanup plan calls for a cap over an area of pits filled with waste during mining, consolidation and engineered containment of remaining waste in the two open pits, removal of water entering the pits, and operation of a treatment system to treat contaminated water from the pits and seeps.

EPA invites comment on proposed cleanup plan for Midnite uranium mine

A defunct mine that produced uranium for Cold War nuclear weapons will finally be cleaned up, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Oct. 4, 2005. The Midnite Mine, a Superfund site located on the Spokane Indian Reservation north of Spokane, operated from 1955-1981. The area now is a series of open pits filled with radioactive heavy metals and water that can enter nearby streams and hurt humans, animals and plants, the EPA said.
The EPA, in its preferred alternative, is proposing to remove mine waste rock from the surface and place it in two open pits on the site. The pits would be covered with several feet of clean soil. Other pits already filled with mining waste would also be covered, the EPA said. Native vegetation would be planted over the pits to prevent erosion. Groundwater entering the pits would be pumped to a nearby water treatment plant, where sludge would be removed and disposed of, the EPA plan said. The work would cost $123 million to perform, plus $29 million for operations and maintenance, the EPA said. (Corvallis Gazette-Times Oct. 4, 2005)

DOI invites comment on Midnite Uranium Mine Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan, Part I: Injury Determination

The Department of the Interior (represented by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service), the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation announce the release for public review of the Midnite Uranium Mine Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan, Part I: Injury Determination.
Comments on the Assessment Plan are due on or before July 19, 2004.

Federal Register: June 17, 2004 (Vol. 69, No. 116) p. 33934-33935 (

download full text

)

Cleanup of spilled roadside ore planned for Spring 2004, but still no hope for cleanup of Midnite mine site

EPA plans to remove uranium ore spilled along the haul route used in the past by trucks moving ore from Midnite Mine to the Dawn Mill in Ford. The material (estimated total: less than 100 cubic yards [76 m3]) will be trucked to the Midnite mine, where it will be stored until the mine cleanup takes place. (EPA Fact Sheet Oct. 2003)
When the mine cleanup will take place, is unclear still, however. The EPA is completing studies that will lead to a preferred cleanup plan, but who will pay for the work has yet to be determined.
Studies to determine the extent of contamination on the 320-acre [1.3 km2] site left after 26 years of mining already have cost $7 million, EPA Project Manager Elly Hale said from Seattle. “We’ve notified Dawn and Newmont Gold of their potential liability,” Hale said. “They know we think they’re liable, but I don’t think Newmont thinks they are liable. It hasn’t been resolved.” If the EPA is unable to make Newmont, Dawn or others pay for the mine’s cleanup, it will become the taxpayers’ responsibility.
About five years ago, Dawn and Newmont proposed importing low-level radioactive dirt and other materials to the uranium mill at Ford. Money from disposal fees would have been used to close both the mill and mine. The tribe, watchdog groups and the state of Washington opposed the plan. (The Arizona Republic Nov. 28, 2003)

EPA Proposes Midnite Mine For Inclusion on National Priorities List

February 16, 1999: To prevent further environmental harm from mine waste, contaminated ground water and surface water runoff from the Midnite Mine, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing that the 811-acre site be included on the National Priorities List(NPL). If added to the NPL, the site will be eligible for clean up under the federal “Superfund” program.
Comments on the proposed NPL listing can be submitted to EPA by April 19, 1999.
> View full

EPA Region 10 News Release 99-6

> View

Spokane Spokesman article Feb. 17, 1999

Excerpt from

Newmont Mining Corp. 1998 Annual Report

:

Dawn Mining Company (“Dawn”)-
51% owned by NGC [Newmont Gold Company, approx. 93.75% owned by Newmont Mining Corp.]

“Dawn leased a currently inactive open-pit uranium mine on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the State of Washington. The mine is subject to regulation by agencies of the U.S. Department of Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as the EPA. Dawn also owns a nearby uranium millsite facility.

In 1991, Dawn’s lease was terminated. As a result, Dawn was required to file a formal mine closure and reclamation plan. The Department of Interior has commenced an Environmental Impact Study to analyze Dawn’s proposed plan and to consider alternate closure and reclamation plans for the mine. Dawn cannot predict at this time what type of mine reclamation plan may be selected by the Department of Interior. Dawn does not have sufficient funds to pay for the reclamation plan it proposed, for any alternate plan, or for the closure of its mill.

The Department of Interior previously notified Dawn that when the lease was terminated, it would seek to hold Dawn and the Company (as Dawn’s then 51% owner) liable for any costs incurred as a result of Dawn’s failure to comply with the lease and applicable regulations. Other government agencies also might attempt to hold the Company liable for future reclamation or remediation work at the mine or millsite. In early 1999, the EPA proposed that the mine be included on the National Priorities List under CERCLA. If asserted, the Company will vigorously contest any such claims. The Company cannot reasonably predict the likelihood or outcome of any future action against Dawn or the Company arising from this matter.

Dawn has received a license for a mill closure plan that could generate funds to close and reclaim both the mine and the mill.” (emphasis added)

Excerpt from Federal Register; download full notice via GPO Access

[Federal Register: January 26, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 18)] [Notices] [Page 2528]
>From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

———————————————————————–

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR [OR-130-1330-04; GP6-0055]

Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Midnite Uranium Mine (MUM) Reclamation

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Spokane District.

ACTION: Notice.

———————————————————————–

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102 (2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Spokane District, as the lead federal agency, will be directing the preparation of an EIS for final reclamation of the

Midnite

Uranium Mine located on the Spokane Indian Reservation, in Washington State. The EIS will evaluate the environmental impacts of alternative plans for mitigating the affects of past mining activities. The reclamation objective is to ensure that a physically stable condition is achieved whereat environmental impacts are mitigated or controlled and public safety is protected. This notice initiates the scoping process for the EIS and also serves as an invitation for other potential cooperating parties. Potential cooperating parties include the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington State Department of Health (WADOH).