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Valmont Butte Remediation ProjectThe city has posted key documents relating to the environmental conditions and activities at the Valmont Butte property on this Web page. Please contact Bill Boyes at boyesb@bouldercolorado.gov or 303-441-4125 to request documents that are not posted on this Web page. What's New - Current Status and Next StepsUpdate on the Valmont Butte remediation project – November 2012 Currently, activities at the Valmont site include remediation of the site under the State of Colorado's Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCUP). The VCUP is approximately 70 percent complete with an expected completion date in March 2013. Excavation and consolidation of contaminated soils at the primary tailings pond was completed in November 2012. Remaining work includes placement of a two foot soil cap over the tailings pond and an additional 18 inch rock cap, fill of excavated areas, stormwater drainage control, fencing and site revegetation. Final documents will then be compiled and submitted to CDPHE for closure of the VCUP and any revisions to the environmental covenants required for the site. These actions are expected to occur in the third quarter of 2013. As required by the Boulder County Limited Impact Land Use Review, within four months after CDPHE's revisions to the environmental covenants, the city will submit the mill site and the balance of the property for landmark designation with exclusions of specific areas deemed not to meet the Land Use Code's criteria for historic landmark designation. This designation will occur in fourth quarter 2013 (subject to change). Cost Increases Memos that went to City Council: Cleanup costs have increased by about $1.4 million. The original cost estimate for the Valmont Butte remediation project was for $5 million; however, in any complex project, costs are first estimated and are likely to be adjusted as field work proceeds. In this case, the depth and width of contamination was estimated based on a comprehensive sampling program performed at 50- to 200-foot intervals, depending on soil quality results, but exact volumes could not be known until excavation occurred. The largest single increase ($900,000) was not related to any increase in contaminated soil volumes or any other environmental condition, but instead was due to an increase in the volume of rock required to effectively deter prairie dogs. The actual volume of rock needed to reach the desired void space limitations was adjusted upward based on a field "test cap." There was no expansion of the cap footprint. The other cost increases were spread across a number of items, such as asbestos abatement, prairie dog management, more extensive archaeological monitoring, perimeter air monitoring, and additional oversight costs. Unanticipated asbestos abatement accounted for $77,000 of the increase. There was an increase in the amount of soil excavated, which accounts for approximately $180,000, and an associated increase in off-site fill material, which is estimated to cost approximately $230,000, to backfill excavation areas and supply clean soil cap material. The archaeological monitoring costs increased $17,000 due to additional excavation inside the cultural area and documentation of potential artifacts in areas outside the excavation areas. (A final report from the archeologist will be available at the completion of the project.) Finally, some of these increases are attributable to the fact that the timeframe for completion has been extended by several months. The city has an interim cost-sharing agreement with Honeywell for 50 percent of construction and other site-related costs, with a right to seek reallocation in an arbitration hearing. The city's contribution is paid 50 percent from the General Fund, 40 percent from Utilities, and 10 percent from Open Space and Mountain Parks. Legal fees, which are not part of the $5 million budget estimate, are attributable to negotiations with Honeywell, assisting in communications with CDPHE, and assisting in responding to public interest- related requests. Even with the increase in costs, this approach to remediation is still much more cost-effective and certainly less disruptive to neighbors and the community than other options, such as removing all contaminated soil from the site to a licensed disposal facility. Can community members tour the site? Valmont Butte Mitigation Project Update – May 2012The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently denied a petition by the Valmont School District No. 4 Cemetery Association and Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center to reevaluate the city's Valmont Butte property for federal Superfund consideration. (The city does not know precisely what the petitioners requested, as the city was not copied on the petition.) In addition, the Cemetery Association apparently raised similar concerns in an earlier letter (the city was not copied) to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Both the EPA and CDPHE responses confirm the regulators' continuing endorsement of the city's cleanup plan for Valmont Butte being implemented under the auspices of CDPHE's Voluntary Cleanup Program. Both agencies copied the city on their response letters and these have been added to this website:
The city will continue to be sensitive to the concerns of its neighbors at Valmont Butte as well as to the land and its history as the mitigation project continues.The city is committed to addressing environmental concerns on the site while preserving historic and cultural artifacts. These are responsibilities that the city takes seriously, and as such, qualified professionals have been hired to monitor the cleanup activities and assist the city in addressing these requirements. Valmont Butte New Rock Feature – April 2012Early in April, a new rock feature was discovered on the city's Valmont Butte site. After consulting with both the site's Native America monitor and the project archaeologist, it was determined that this was not an historic rock feature and in fact, had been recently placed on the city's property without permission. The archaeologist and Native American monitor helped the city dismantle the rocks on April 23, 2012. Following the dismantling of this feature, the Sheriff's Office was called by the neighboring Cemetery, and an investigation was conducted to determine whether there was any crime involved in the removal of the rock formation. The Sheriff's Office determined that no crime was committed. See the Sheriff's Office report for more information. The archaeologist documented the rock feature and her conclusions about its lack of significance prior to its removal. Because of the interest by the public, the city is posting photographs and information from the archaeologist's assessment. The archaeologist's report cannot be made public at this time. The report is part of a larger documentation effort of various materials identified on the Valmont Butte site in connection with site cleanup activities. Currently, this report is in draft form. When it is finalized, it likely will be submitted to the county as a confidential report. The reason for the confidentiality is so that locations of actual artifacts aren't inadvertently released to the public, which can attract thieves. Given these concerns, the city does not foresee releasing the full report in the future. However, the same photographic evidence of the rock feature found in April can be found in the assessment information currently available (link above). April 2012In response to questions raised by the Boulder Weekly and other organizations, the city sent this information packet memo to City Council on April 12, 2012. The Valmont Butte Remediation Project is scheduled from late March to early December 2012.Project construction activities began in late March 2012 at the Valmont Butte site, located at 3000 N. 63rd St. in Boulder. Activities will include the use of trucks to transport soil fill material from Arapahoe Road, east of N. 63rd Street, to the Valmont Butte site. All construction work will take place Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The specific route in the Transportation Plan approved by Boulder County is to begin transporting soil fill material heading east on Arapahoe Road, then north onto N. 63rd Street, then east on Valmont Road to the entrance to the site. Empty trucks will exit the site onto Valmont Road heading east, turn south on 75th Street and proceed back to ArapahoeRoad. The site entrance at 3000 N. 63rd St. will not be used by construction vehicles. Settlements Reached (December 2011)The City of Boulder, Honeywell International Inc. and Tusco, Inc. recently reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in the amount of $350,000, to resolve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) costs for its past investigations at the Valmont Butte. The Valmont Butte property, located at the intersection of 63rd Street and Valmont Road in Boulder County, is comprised of an abandoned ore milling complex and associated tailings ponds. The city purchased the property in 2000. In 2004 and 2005, the EPA investigated the site and prepared a site assessment report. The City of Boulder also recently reached settlements with Honeywell and Tusco to resolve their liabilities as past owners and operators of the Valmont Butte mill site. Under those settlement agreements, Tusco's share will be $250,000 and the estimated costs for remediation are expected to be approximately $5 million, which will be split 50/50 between the City of Boulder and Honeywell, with the option to resolve the final damages in an abbreviated, mini-trial process. Honeywell will also be responsible for covering the EPA costs. More information about the settlements with Honeywell and Tusco can be found in an Information Packet memo that went to City Council in October 2011. CDPHE Approves Remediation Plan (September 2010)The city received approval from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE) in September 2010 for its remediation plan as part of the city's Voluntary Cleanup Plan (VCUP) application for the property. The project proposes to complete remediation of soils impacted with heavy metals and low-level, naturally occurring radioactive materials to limit the risk of human and wildlife exposure. The cleanup plan seeks to remediate the tailings pond areas as well as 14 additional areas outside the tailings ponds that were discovered to have high lead concentrations. The remediation strategy is driven by the need to construct a properly engineered cap on the primary tailings pond and the need to properly manage mining residuals located outside the tailings pond area. Contaminated soils will be consolidated in the tailings pond, and then covered by a new cap of soil and rock. Board of County Commissioners Approves Applications (August 2011)In August 2011, the Board of County Commissioners conditionally approved the city's application for a Limited Impact Special Use Review for remediation work that will occur on Valmont Butte. The approval gives the city the authority to go ahead with remediation work on the site as long as some additional steps are taken to preserve specific historic buildings on site. Site Remediation InformationFacilities and Asset Management (FAM) will serve as the project manager for all phases of the project. Site remediation is proposed in a three-phase project. Phase I work, which included the removal of hazardous of potentially hazardous materials stored on the site, has been completed at an approximate cost of $169,000. Phases II and III involve removing prairie dogs currently living in the area and and capping the tailings ponds. Staff is following the city's Urban Wildlife Management Plan (UWMP) and city ordinance protocol in relocating all of the prairie dogs on the site (outside of the cap). This work is complete. The total estimated cost for remediation of the site is $913,000. Approximately $169,000 of this amount has been spent removing hazardous waste (Phase I), $34,000 has been spent to date on wildlife assessments and relocation (Phase II) and $27,000 has been spent on cap restoration design (Phase III). The remaining Phase II and Phase III work will cost approximately $683,000. The original budget amount for the project was established in February 2006 at $850,000. Specific Information on Remediation PhasesPhase1: Remove hazardous materials located outside the tailing ponds in the form of storage drums, PCB transformers, contaminated and radioactive soils, and miscellaneous items. These items were identified as hazardous materials in need of removal. Staff has contracted with Terracon to develop a scope of work for the removal of the materials and monitoring the work. Staff intends to issue a Request for Qualifications based on the work scope developed by Terracon and select an environmental waste management contractor to perform the work. A specific health and safety plan will be required for this phase of the project. Radioactive and contaminated soils located outside the tailing pond areas will be moved to the primary tailing pond area and will be properly covered as part of the cap restoration work. Other hazardous materials will be removed from the site and properly disposed. *Information about this work is available for public viewing. Contact Bill Boyes, Facilities and Maintenance, atboyesb@bouldercolorado.gov or call 303-441-4125 to set up a viewing. The name of the publication is: City of Boulder Hazardous and Industrial Waste Removal and Disposal, Valmont Butte/Allied Piles Site, Boulder, Colorado, Specifications. Phase 2: Inventory, sample and remove approximately 700 prairie dogs from the primary and secondary tailings ponds areas as required by the covenant agreement with CDPHE. In addition, a barrier to prevent prairie dogs and other burrowing animals from entering the area will be constructed. The city has contracted with Roe Ecological Services to assist in this effort. Phase 3: After the prairie dogs are removed and the barrier is constructed, restore the tailings ponds caps as required by the covenant agreement with CDPHE. The tailing ponds were originally covered by a cap consisting of a layer of inert clean fill material. This cap has eroded and has been disturbed by prairie dogs and needs to be restored. For more information, please contact Bill Boyes, Facilities & Fleet Manager, at 303-441-4125 or email boyesb@bouldercolorado.gov. Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 December 2012 11:57 |
