Comment submitted by Bob Kinyon, Executive Director, Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers

Bob Kinyon <Bob@UmpquaRivers.org> 03/08/2007 02:25 PM To Docket Superfund@EPA cc bcc Subject Formosa Mine Site - Docket Number EPA-HQ-SFUND-2007-00079 To Whom It May Concern: I have known about the Formosa Mine site since I took my current job as Executive Director of the watershed council in 1997. In 1999 I attempted to get grant funding from the US Fish and Wildlife Service to cost-share three fish passage culvert replacements on Brush Creek, Gravel Creek and Smith Creek, all tributaries to Middle Creek downstream of the Mine. The Service would not grant us funds since Middle Creek was contaminated along 18 miles of stream with acid mine toxics. We were eventually able to procure funding from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board to replace the three culverts in 2000. This provided refugia for salmonids away from the toxic mainstem. We just last year procured funding from the same source to replace a fourth culvert in the Middle Creek drainage on Peavine Creek. This again provides a source of clean water for migrating salmon. Since our business is improving fish habitat and water quality, this proposal to fix the mine site via superfund designation holds great promise. Once the leaching is stopped and the stream has clean flowing water again, we will embark on an intensive effort to restore fish habitat over the 18 effected miles of stream. Coho salmon are our focus of concern since it was recently de-listed by NOAA from the ‘threatened’ status of the ESA. We need more habitats for the returning salmon to make the efforts of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds a success. I was also chair of the Roseburg BLM Resource Advisory Committee that considered funding a BLM/DEQ project to fix the toxic mine problem in 2004. The request was rejected by the committee primarily because most members thought the funding and project proposal were grossly insufficient and incapable of fixing the problem. In my opinion the superfund designation would bring enough resources to bear to eliminate the mine leaching. I am in FULL SUPPORT of designating the Formosa Mine a superfund site. Bob Kinyon Executive Director Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers 1758 NE Airport Road Roseburg, OR 97470 541-673-5756