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LEADVILLE — E-mails attained by a Colorado Open Records Act request tell a tale of how the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel leakage went from a Superfund consideration to a state of emergency.
A Bureau of Reclamation employee first advised the commissioners to request Superfund status for the leaking tunnel.
• On Jan. 23, Lake County resident and tunnel treatment plant manager Brad Littlepage sent an e-mail to county officials with a draft of what he thought should be a request from the county to put the tunnel on the EPA’s “National Priorities List.” A Jan. 24 e-mail from Ann Umphries to Littlepage and the commissioners confirms that she and Littlepage have been discussing such a request.
• Umphries then suggested a press release or press conference by the commissioners might be the best way to get attention, and she proposes that they contact Senator Tom Wiens’ office for help setting it up.
• On Feb. 2, Littlepage (who, in addition to being an advisor to the commissioners appears to have also been their speechwriter) sent county a officials a version of the speech that Commissioner Mike Hickman eventually read on Feb. 13, just before the commissioners voted to declare a State of Emergency. However, rather than declaring a state of emergency, this earlier draft ended with the following statement:
“We plead for your help legislators and citizens, and if that help means forcing Reclamation’s Leadville Mine Drainage to become part the California Gulch Superfund Site, so be it.”
• There is no mention in the e-mails how the commissioners and their advisors went from requesting that the leaking tunnel be declared a Superfund site to declaring a State of Emergency. At 5:46 in the morning on Feb. 13, Brad Littlepage sent another draft of the speech to the commissioners and Umphries, suggesting that it would “hopefully … help with the wording for today’s declaration of emergency.”
This time, the speech was very similar to what Mike Hickman read that afternoon, stating, as he did:
“Per the Colorado Disaster Emergency Procedures Hand Book for Local Officials we are declaring a state of emergency.”
So far, the commissioners have not released any emails in which they responded to these suggestions from their advisors.
A Bureau of Reclamation employee first advised the commissioners to request Superfund status for the leaking tunnel.
• On Jan. 23, Lake County resident and tunnel treatment plant manager Brad Littlepage sent an e-mail to county officials with a draft of what he thought should be a request from the county to put the tunnel on the EPA’s “National Priorities List.” A Jan. 24 e-mail from Ann Umphries to Littlepage and the commissioners confirms that she and Littlepage have been discussing such a request.
• Umphries then suggested a press release or press conference by the commissioners might be the best way to get attention, and she proposes that they contact Senator Tom Wiens’ office for help setting it up.
• On Feb. 2, Littlepage (who, in addition to being an advisor to the commissioners appears to have also been their speechwriter) sent county a officials a version of the speech that Commissioner Mike Hickman eventually read on Feb. 13, just before the commissioners voted to declare a State of Emergency. However, rather than declaring a state of emergency, this earlier draft ended with the following statement:
“We plead for your help legislators and citizens, and if that help means forcing Reclamation’s Leadville Mine Drainage to become part the California Gulch Superfund Site, so be it.”
• There is no mention in the e-mails how the commissioners and their advisors went from requesting that the leaking tunnel be declared a Superfund site to declaring a State of Emergency. At 5:46 in the morning on Feb. 13, Brad Littlepage sent another draft of the speech to the commissioners and Umphries, suggesting that it would “hopefully … help with the wording for today’s declaration of emergency.”
This time, the speech was very similar to what Mike Hickman read that afternoon, stating, as he did:
“Per the Colorado Disaster Emergency Procedures Hand Book for Local Officials we are declaring a state of emergency.”
So far, the commissioners have not released any emails in which they responded to these suggestions from their advisors.
