What's Wrong With The Fish In The Big Thompson River?
Anonymous said...
I would like to know what is wrong with the fish in the Big Thompson? I drove up the canyon to my usual spot (Indian Store area) caught only very small trout and very few! Two of the smaller trout had fleshy marks near the tail on the same side which like burns, maybe chemical. (The marks were nothing like what happens in crowded fish hatchers.)
Again what happen to the fish in the Big Thompson. I also like to know what is the black/dark brown on some of the rocks in the stream bed? Some of this black/dark brown substance will rub off on your fingers, yet others rocks this substance seems embedded. Could this be sewer sludge from the new fire house since that seep field is within a 100 ft of the river in violation of the Health Department. Please post or forward my comment - concern to the public official for answers.
Thanks
Original Anonymous Post: Sun Mar 19, 02:33:50 AM MST
posted by That Mountain Guy @ 8:34:00 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Good luck getting any help or valid information from the Health Department. Ed Shim-Sham Shemm, Tom Blind-Eye Gonzales are into covering these type of things up just like they are doing with the chemical contamination on Storm Mountain Road. Just ignore it and it will go away is their attitude. Screw the people and environment. I have heard rumors that animals are dying up there and people getting sick from the contamination. The chemicals on the road up Storm Mountain may be what's wrong with the fish too. The river was covered with foam from that crap, especially down by the dam near the Indian Store several times last year. Who knows for sure. They are using those chemicals all over the county now. Just look for the dead trees. I didn't know that the new fire station was on a septic. Only a moron would approve that! I thought they were on a vault system like most everyone else in the canyon.
There was a report of several hundred fish being killed after a heavy rain washed chemicals from Storm Mountain into the Big Thonpson River. But nobody has been able to get any accurate information from any of the public entities involved.
This to my knowledge has been an issue for a couple of years now and nobody seems to care, other than us residents and fishermen.
I wasn't aware of a septic field for the new firehouse either. That would seem to me to be a pretty stupid thing to do with the Big Thompson just a few feet away. I had to have a vault system for my home. Does anyone know who did the inspection and approval if it is a septic system?
My name is Darrell Spangler and I may be able to shed some light on your questions. I am the individual who was most effected by the chemicals on FDR 128. I am also the owner/editor of Storm Mountain News.
To make this as short as possible, the chemicals are toxic. I know because I paid hundreds of dollars for the testing that the County refused to do.
The results are very clear. Arsenic, Barium and Chromium were all confirmed to be present in sludge running from the road at dangerously high levels.
My black lab died last May and a necroscopy perfomed by CSU indicated extensive intestinal cancer as the case of death. Toxicology revealed abnormaly high amounts of arsenic in both the liver and kidneys. She used to play in and drink from a pond contaminated with road runoff before we knew what was going on. We filled in the pond, but it was too late for Ali.
So there is no question if the chemicals are really up here or if they are dangerous. They are absolutely here and they are deadly!
I hold the National Forest Service fully responsible. They not only own the road but authorized the continued use of these chemicals even after the test results showing the toxic chemicals was made public.
I also have inside information that the NFS has been lying to residents and possibly the County about alleged testing done on these chemicals. It now appears that no testing has ever been done on the use of these chemicals in this capacity. Should this be true, the Forest Service will have a lot of explaining to do and a lot of liabilities to homeowners for damages to property and health.
I have a slam-dunk legal case against the company that applied the chemicals. But the reality is that they probably could not pay the full settlement and attorney/legal fees would eat up the majority of what they could pay. I honestly don't think they knew how dangerous the chemicals were anyway. Nobody, including myself, did initially other than possibly the NFS and/or the supplier, Envirotec. They told everyone the chemicals were safe. They are 100% responsible, period.
Several large trees and many smaller shrubs in the path of the runoff from the road have also died over the last year or so. I am now working together with our homeowner's association to get them removed before fire season, for the good of everyone up here.
So in regards to the problem with the fish in the Big Thompson River, I believe that there is a very high probability that the chemicals running from FDR 128 are indeed responsible to some degree for the problems you are describing.
Thanks for you opinions. After doing more checking, I ran across information confirming the fish kill last summer and that the cause of death was arsenic poisoning. I cannot say who or where this information came from at this time, but it is a very reliable source. They are currently trying to say that the arsenic is coming from Estes Park Sanitation discarge but arsenic isn't used in the process of waste purification. If the claims of arsenic in the runoff made in the last post by Mr. Spangler are true, then the arsenic that killed the fish in the Big Thompson probably came from the road going up Storm Mountain and not Estes Park. You would expect to see the largest kill closer to the source and I haven't heard of many dead fish upstream of Drake. How could that much arsenic float harmlessly all the way From Estes and then kill hundreds of fish miles from the source? That doesn't make any sense.
For anyone interested, the road crew in cooperation with the National Forest Service is preparing to again apply chemicals over recycled asphalt on FDR 128.
Watch the river for chemical foam and dead fish after our first good rain. Take pictures and more pictures noting the date and time of day.
Please send any info or photos to editor@stormmountain.net
An investigation is currently underway and your info and pictures can help bring an end to this reckless disregard for our environment and health.
As a follow-up on the chemical issue, the State of Colorado Water Quality Cotrol Division cited the roads crews who applied the chemicals with a "Notice of Violation" and "Cease and Desist Order" in February of 2007, for discharge of a pollutant (runoff from the road) into State waters in violation of the Water Quality Control Act.
This will hopefully prevent any additional hazardous chemicals from being applied to the LCR41H, aka: FDR128, aka: Storm Mountain Drive.
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