The Missouri Trustee Council, which includes the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, is announcing that a draft study plan, “Damages Assessment Plan Addendum for Transition Zone Assessment at the Madison County Mines Site,” is available for public review and comment.
The study, as described in the Draft Transition Zone Assessment Plan, will be part of an ongoing Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration conducted by the Trustees in the Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District, pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Consistent with the CERCLA Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration regulations, the co-trustees are making the Draft Transition Zone Assessment Plan available for public review and comment.
The Draft Transition Zone Assessment Plan focuses on the Anschutz Mine, also known as the “Madison Mine,” which is approximately 75 miles southwest of St. Louis in Madison County. The Trustees are conducting this study to develop a better understanding of soil metals contamination levels and spatial extent surrounding the tailings areas at the Anschutz Mine. This information will be used for natural resource injury determination and quantification.
The Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process is designed to determine whether releases of hazardous substances have injured natural resources, quantify the injuries, and determine damages in order to compensate the public for the loss of natural resources. The Trustees then seek to recover the natural resource damages from potentially responsible parties. Pursuant to CERCLA, any recoveries may only be used by the Trustees to restore, rehabilitate, replace or acquire the equivalent of injured natural resources.
The Draft Transition Zone Assessment Plan and more information about Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration in the Southeast Missouri lead mining area can be found on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Missouri DNR web sites: www.fws.gov/midwest/es/ec/nrda/SEMONRDA or www.dnr.mo.gov/env/hwp/sfund/nrda.htm.
If you have any comments on the Draft Transition Zone Assessment Plan, please submit them in writing by April 22, 2016, to Mr. John Weber at John_S_Weber@fws.gov or send by regular mail to:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Missouri Ecological Services Field Office
101 Park DeVille Dr., Suite A
Columbia, MO 65203
