Region 8
Serving Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 27 Tribal Nations
Superfund Program
National Information
Regional Information
Site Information
National Priorities List (NPL) History
Proposed Date
3/19/2008
Final Date
9/3/2008
Nelson Tunnel/Commodore Waste Rock
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Site Type: Final NPL City: Creede County: Mineral Street Address: One mile north of town Zip Code: 81130 EPA ID #: CON000802630 SSID: 08MB Site Alias: Nelson Tunnel |
Site Status & Updates
In 2009 work began on developing the Remedial Investigation/ Feasibility Study (the "RI/FS")
- EPA is collecting data to support the RI/FS which includes data gathered by the Willow Creek Reclamation Committee, and investigations conducted by the Colorado Division of Reclamation and Mining Safety, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (the "CDPHE"), and Colorado University, Boulder.
- They are monitoring seasonal changes and "finger printing" the water to determine the sources of the water entering the tunnel and where it is picking-up metals.
Work is underway on the Commodore Waste Rock pile (the "Site"):
- Temporary stream diversion around the construction area in West Willow Creek is complete and operating.
- The diversion has provisions for overflow if circumstances dictate.
- Most of the debris, old pipes, flume, etc. have been cleaned out of West Willow Creek
- In preparation for construction of the new conveyance system, some grading of the lower portion of the waste rock pile has begun
Site Description
The Nelson Tunnel/Commodore Waste Rock Site is located in the San Juan Mountains in south central Colorado. The Site lies one mile North of the town of Creede in Mineral County, Colorado. The Site consists of an abandoned mine Site which includes a draining adit that drains directly into West Willow Creek and the Commodore Waste Rock pile immediately upslope and surrounding the Nelson Tunnel adit. West Willow Creek drains into Willow Creek, which flows into the Rio Grande River approximately four miles from the Site.
Historically, mining of silver, lead, and zinc provided economic viability to the area in and around the Creede mining district. The activity resulted in contaminated water discharging into the Willow Creek drainage and mine waste piles accumulating in the watershed. Characterization of the watershed identified the Nelson Tunnel adit drainage as the largest source of cadmium, lead and zinc in the Willow Creek watershed.
The Commodore Waste Rock pile also contains elevated levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead and zinc. In 2005, drainage constructed around the pile failed during a flood. The Commodore Waste Rock pile is now highly unstable and partially lies in West Willow Creek and Willow Creek. The potential exists for these piles to contaminate the town of Creede during another flood.
Site Risk
| Media Affected | Contaminants | Source of Contamination |
| surface water, mining waste rock pile | arsenic, cadmium, lead and zinc | mining |
The Site is approximately five acres in size and consists of a draining adit and a large waste rock pile both containing high levels of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and zinc. West Willow Creek runs through the Site carrying contamination into Willow Creek and the Rio Grande River four miles below the Site. A biological assessment of the Willow Creek watershed indicated concentrations for cadmium, lead and zinc that exceed recommended dietary intake benchmarks and aquatic water standards for fish and birds. These analyses identified cleanup of the Nelson Tunnel as a key element to restoring the Willow Creek stream and streamside habitat.
Since mining has moved out of the area, tourism and recreation have become the town's economic backbone. Fishing is an important part of recreation for visitors and locals. Fisheries have been impacted to the point that no fish exist for approximately a two mile stretch below the Site. Below that stretch the fish are sparse and appear to be suffering from reproductive effects of metal contamination. Willow Creek is a tributary of the Rio Grande River, a State designated Gold Medal fishery.
The residents of the town of Creede could be affected if another flood were to occur. The recent flooding sent waste rock below Creede, but did not breech the banks through town. If a greater than 20-year-flood were to occur, it could flood over the banks bringing contamination into town and potentially resulting in fish kills further downstream.
Cleanup Progress
Over the past eight years other cleanup alternatives for the entire watershed have been evaluated by the community, CDPHE, EPA, and other federal and state agencies. Much of the watershed has been addressed using other alternatives. Some of these other projects included facilitation of assessments as well as cleanup and reclamation of much of the mining district. Future watershed projects below the Nelson Tunnel/Commodore Waste Rock Site and the town cannot move forward until this significant problem is addressed.
To address immediate threats from the Commodore waste rock pile work began in the fall of 2008 with designs for stabilizing the Commodore Waste Rock pile and redesigning drainage around the pile.
The Nelson Tunnel received its final listing to the National Priorities List on September 3, 2008.
Work has begun developing the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) to characterize the Site. This consists of collecting information to determine the extent of water entering the Nelson Tunnel and determine if any freshwater enters the tunnel and if so, where. The plan will also evaluate several alternatives for cleaning up the contaminated water. The information is analyzed in detail and presented in the RI/FS Report which will be made available to the public.
Community Involvement
Designating this as a Superfund Site guarantees the public an opportunity to participate in cleanup decisions.
In addition, fact sheets, public meetings, individual or small group informal meetings, and occasional e-mails will be used to keep the community updated about the work being done. A Community Involvement Plan was developed as a guide to methods for keeping citizens involved in the cleanup decisions.
Information that EPA used to document the proposed listing of the Site and future documents used in developing alternatives for the cleanup plan will be available on this web page or at the following locations:
U.S. EPA
Superfund Records Center
1595 Wynkoop Street
Denver, CO 80202
Creede Town Hall
Meeting Room
2223 N. Main Street
Creede, CO 81130
Site Documents
Note: the following document is an Adobe Acrobat PDF file
About PDF files
2007 Fact Sheet (PDF, 4 pp, 371K)
HRS Package (The NPL proposal) (PDF, 22 pp, 440K)
Nelson Tunnel pictures (PDF, 4 pp, 399K)
Contacts
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EPA Michael Holmes Peggy Linn |
Colorado Deparment of Public Health and Environment Wendy Naugle Jeannine Natterman |