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Show id if V J : I Wednesday, March 15, 2000 Canyon Forest Service has plan to rid American Fork Canyon of mining days residues AMERICAN FORK CANYON, Utah (AP) There's still gold, lead, copper, zinc, arsenic, iron and cadmium in the canyon. But instead of profit, the metal and ore are now pollution. In attempt to clean up the area from decades of mining, a major reclamation effort is expected to start within the next year. It is scheduled to be completed in October 2002. Although it's estimated there is as much as $1 million worth of usable metal and ore in the Pacific Mine alone in American Fork Canyon, it would cost $1.5 million to mine. Meanwhile, the heavy metals are washing into mountain streams, threatening fish, wildlife and. potentially, people. Debris from the tailings from Winter sets new record for warmth Scientists aren't sure if greenhouse effect is the culprit WASHINGTON (AP) This winter has been the warmest on record in the United States since the government began keeping weather statistics 105 years ago, according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Worldwide. temperatures were the sixth warmest on record, following the two warmest winter seasons set in the past two years, the NOAA analysis said. Globally, precipitation was above average through central and northern Europe, most of South America, southern Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia. Heavy downpours resulted in catastrophic cata-strophic flooding in Mozambique and other countries in southeastern southeast-ern Africa. Analyzingta from NOAA's National Climatic Pala Center in Ashe v ilk, N.C., researchers said that seasonal temperatures from December to February averaged . 38.4 degrees Fahrenheit (about 3.5 Celsius), or 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the previous pre-vious record, which was set just last year. The scientists attributed the warm temperatures to La Nina, a weather phenomenon related to cooler than normal temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. The researchers couldn't say Saturday whether the warm winter win-ter had any link to a "greenhouse effect" caused by pollution into the atmosphere. In fact, the last three winters have been the warmest on record in the United States - a pattern of warm winters established in 1980, said the scientists. Since then, 67 percent of the winter seasons have been warmer than the long-term average. aver-age. Many states from the northern north-ern Plains to New England set records for the latest date of their first seasonal snowfall, latest lat-est date without a temperature below freezing, longest snow-free snow-free period, or longest period between subzero (Fahrenheit) temperatures. II SfxtfxW 8,335 ttxTZxW 20,855 Ste through Aprtf 6. 20001 to undergo major scrubbing more than 100 abandoned mines in the north fork area above Tibbie Fork Reservoir has already pushed the mineral content con-tent in the American Fork River beyond acceptable water quality limits. Soil samples taken a year ago showed levels of lead in the Pacific Mine tailings, for instance, that measured 17.000 parts of lead content per million when the acceptable level for land where humans visit is only 10 parts per million. "Use in that area is increasing," increas-ing," said Loyal Clark, a spokesman for the Uinta National Forest, "so we're concerned. con-cerned. We need to do something right away." U.S. Forest Service officials have called in a hazardous materials mate-rials expert. Ted Fitzgerald, to conduct an expensive cleanup and reclamation operation that's just a step below being classified ts vs i I i ..V ""IT r-v, jTon't buy a second home r The Park Record as a Superfund site. Previous owners and operators opera-tors of the various mines are ultimately ulti-mately responsible for the costs of cleanup, which could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. dol-lars. The effort may mean some restrictions in the area, such as limiting the four-wheeler activity near some of the tailings. Fitzgerald said the cleanup was designated in 1993 by the Environmental Protection Agency as a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Inventoried Site. It's also legally necessary to comply with the stipulations in the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, he said. Targeted as the primary pollution pollu-tion sites are the Pacific Mine, the Globe Mine, the Bog Mines, the Yankee Mines and the area of Dutchman Flat. The Bog Mine soil samples show high levels of both lead and zinc. The Yankee Mines in the Mary Ellen Gulch area show a high level of both lead and zinc. Jjiere's always someone waiting lor vou ana on you amenity rich Chateaux, o m: Even in wodd-renowned Deer alley, The Cluteaux stands out as a residence of distinction. You'll marvel at the attention-to-detail and Old 'world charm this tour-season resort condominium hrings to the mountain. But what truly separates The Chateaux horn living anywhere else, is the warmth and world-class service vou llnnd . there. There's a staff of people who'll continually Y The Pacific Mine showed a higher high-er level of arsenic than recommended recom-mended for human consumption, as well as lead, in four out of four fish tested. But there are more than 100 known mines in the canyon north fork of the American Fork Mining District -- mines left from an era that didn't yet recognize the need to protect the environment. environ-ment. From 1871 to 1876. more than $2.5 million in gold, silver and various ores were taken from the canyon mines by early miners who made quick money on their claims. The heyday was largely from 1870 through to 1912. with some renewed activity continuing into 1945. The metals from the mining, some of which are ground into fine grit by the milling process, wash out of the tailing piles and into the streams. Cutthroat and brown trout samples collected in August showed high concentrations of the metals, especially arsenic and lead. unless it comes availaUe view SqfeTUJ Service & Repair At A Price That's Fair ASE Certified & Factory Trained -". i nnnniiCD - a i ii-m . ni tf . mm - tnSSrn An 1 0 DISCOUNT 98' with Dom, Miguel do whatever it taLvs to mate you feel rujht at home. 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