[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 101 (Friday, May 24, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36645-36646]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-13060]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Notice of Availability, Assessment Plan for Natural Resources 
Injured by Releases of Hazardous Substances From the Leviathan Mine

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Indian Affairs, on behalf of the Washoe Tribe of 
Nevada and California, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. 
Forest Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the 
Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, announces the release for 
public review of the Leviathan Mine Natural Resource Damage Assessment 
Plan--Public Release Draft (Assessment Plan). The Plan was developed by 
the Leviathan Mine Council Natural Resource Trustees, consisting of 
representatives of the Tribe and agencies listed above, to assess 
injuries to natural resources resulting from releases of hazardous 
substances from the Leviathan Mine in Alpine County, California. The 
Assessment Plan describes the proposed approach for determining and 
quantifying natural resource injuries and calculating damages 
associated with these injuries.

DATES: Comments on the Assessment Plan must arrive by June 24, 2002.

ADDRESSES: You may mail or hand deliver written comments to Mr. Wayne 
Nordwall, Regional Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Western Regional 
Office, P.O. Box 10, Phoenix, AZ 85001; or 400 N. Fifth Street, 
Phoenix, AZ 85004; or by facsimile (602) 379-4413.
    The Assessment Plan is available for review, by appointment and 
during normal business hours, at the office locations of the following 
officials: (1) Curtis Milsap, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Western Nevada 
Agency, 1677 Hot Springs Road, Carson City, Nevada 89706, telephone 
(775) 887-3570; (2) John Krause, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Western 
Regional Office, 400 N. Fifth Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85004, telephone 
(602) 379-3723; (3) Robert Greenbaum, Washoe Tribe of Nevada and 
California, 919 U.S. Hwy. 395 South, Gardnerville, Nevada 89410, 
telephone (775) 265-4191 ext. 155; (4) Stan Wiemeyer, U.S. Fish & 
Wildlife Service, Nevada Fish & Wildlife Office, 1340 Financial Blvd., 
Suite 234, Reno, Nevada 89502, telephone (775) 861-6300; and (5) 
Melanie Markin, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2800 Cottage Way, W-2605, 
Sacramento, California 95825, telephone (916) 414-6638. In addition, 
the Assessment Plan is available for review at the Alpine County 
Library, 270 Laramie Street, Markleeville, California 96120, telephone 
(530) 694-2120; and on the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection 
Web site at http://ndep.state.nv.us/ admin/leviathan.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Greenbaum, (775) 265-4191 ext. 
155.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1951, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company 
purchased the Leviathan Mine property, the former site of small copper 
sulfate and sulfur underground mining operations, in Alpine County, 
California. Anaconda developed the former underground mine into an open 
pit sulfur mine and operated the Mine through 1962. Anaconda sold the 
Mine in early 1963, but no further mining operations took place 
thereafter.
    Releases of hazardous substances from the Mine began in the 1950s 
and continue today. Infiltration of precipitation into and through the 
adits (tunnels from the former underground mine), open pit, and 
overburden piles, along with direct contact of mine wastes with surface 
waters, has created acid mine drainage (AMD), which has been released, 
and continues to be released into the environment. AMD, which contains 
arsenic, copper, sulfuric acid, and other hazardous substances, has 
continued to be released into groundwater and into the surface waters 
and sediments in Aspen and Leviathan Creeks, and from there into Bryant 
Creek and the East Fork Carson River. Bryant Creek begins in California 
and crosses into Nevada, passing through several Indian Trust 
Allotments. Bryant Creek then flows into the East Fork Carson River. 
Releases of AMD from the Mine have resulted in fish kills in Leviathan 
and Bryant Creeks and the East Fork Carson River.
    From the early 1980s, when the State of California acquired 
ownership of the Mine, through the late 1990s, the Lahontan Regional 
Water Quality Control Board (LRWQCB) constructed and operated the 
Leviathan Mine Pollution Abatement Project. However, this project did 
not eliminate the releases of hazardous substances, and it redirected 
several sources of AMD to new discharge points. Despite additional 
efforts by the LRWQCB, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
and the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARC), the successor in interest to 
its wholly owned subsidiary, Anaconda, to reduce the release of 
hazardous substances from the Mine, releases of AMD continued to have 
deleterious effects on natural resources at the Mine and downstream.
    In May 2000, EPA added the Leviathan Mine Superfund Site to the 
National Priorities List [65 FR 30482]. Also in 2000, EPA issued 
separate orders to the LRWQCB and ARC pursuant to section 106(a) of the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 
of 1980, as amended (CERCLA) [42 U.S.C. 9606(a)] to engage in hazardous 
waste removal actions. EPA's order to ARC also requires ARC to develop 
long-term response plans, including a

[[Page 36646]]

Remedial Investigation/ Feasibility Study.
    Pursuant to section 107(f) of CERCLA [42 U.S.C. 9607(f)], the 
Leviathan Mine Council Natural Resource Trustees (Trustees) are 
representatives of federal, state, and tribal government entities with 
trust authority over natural resources potentially injured by releases 
of hazardous substances from the Leviathan Mine. While EPA's focus is 
protecting human health and the environment, the Trustees have the 
authority to seek compensation from potentially responsible parties 
(PRPs) for past, present, and future injuries to trust natural 
resources caused by releases from the Mine. Such resources include, but 
are not limited to, groundwater, surface water, sediment, fish 
(including Lahontan Cutthroat Trout) and other aquatic biota, 
floodplain soils, riparian vegetation, and wildlife in and around the 
Leviathan Creek and Bryant Creek drainages, and a portion of the East 
Fork Carson River drainage. The assessment area includes the area 
surrounding and downstream from the Leviathan Mine in Alpine County, 
California; the Toiyabe National Forest; Indian Trust Allotments; 
Douglas County, Nevada; and the Washoe Indian Community of 
Dresslerville.
    The Assessment Plan developed by the Trustees is intended to assess 
injuries to natural resources resulting from releases of hazardous 
substances from the Leviathan Mine. The Assessment Plan describes the 
proposed approach for determining and quantifying natural resource 
injuries and calculating damages associated with these injuries. By 
developing an Assessment Plan, the Trustees can ensure that the natural 
resource damage assessment will be completed at a reasonable cost. The 
Trustees also intend for the Assessment Plan to communicate proposed 
assessment methods to PRPs and to the public in an effective manner so 
that they can productively participate in the assessment process. The 
ultimate goal of the assessment is to seek damages from PRPs for the 
purpose of developing projects which will restore, rehabilitate, 
replace, or acquire the equivalent of the injured natural resources and 
the services they previously provided [43 CFR 11.81(a)(1)]. The 
Trustees may amend the Assessment Plan, but any significant amendments 
will be made available for public review [43 CFR 11.32(e)].

Public Comment Availability

    Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the mailing addresses shown in the 
ADDRESSES section, during regular business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents 
may request confidentiality. If you wish us to withhold your name and/
or address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of 
Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of 
your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent 
allowed by law. We will not, however, consider anonymous comments. All 
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

    Dated: May 14, 2002.
Neal A. McCaleb,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 02-13060 Filed 5-23-02; 8:45 am]
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