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4 www.DesertMessenger.com July 15, 2020 MILL FROM PAGE 1 Food Bank update Corner of Moon Mt. & Cowell • Quartzsite • 928-927-5400 QUARTZSITE'S ONLY YEAR ROUND SALON Cheyanne and Debbi ARE HERE FOR YOUR WE'RE OPEN YEAR ROUND! Hair, Nails, and Pedicure Services SUMMER HOURS: TUES - FRI HCB updates Transfer station hours Quartzsite Transfer Station is now on their SUMMER hours. They are open Sunday thru Tuesday 6am to 1pm. (When tempera- tures reach over 110 degrees, they will close early.) For more info call the Main landfi ll 928-916-1253 or Main offi ce at 928-854-9152. The transfer station is located north of Town, just off Hwy. 95, near the Sewer Treatment Plant. A Big Thank You To Our Volunteers Without our volunteers our food bank would not be open! The food bank volunteers are amazing! They have been working hard during this epi- demic, when we would normally be slowing down they have been doing double the work. Please give them a big thank you when you see them. Volunteers are always needed at various times throughout the week, not just distribution times, to assist with recycling, stocking shelves, cleaning etc. All volunteer temper- atures are tested. We are open Tues & Thur 8-noon. You can come in once a week for food, clothes and toiletries. If you are on foot or bike with limited ca- pacity you can make arrangements to come in twice. Deliveries to shut-ins are made by Victor or Dee Nise Stoe with the Friends of the Food Bank truck. If someone else is trying to make a food delivery to you call 928-927- 5479 to confi rm they are really from the food bank. For delivery days to Bouse, Ehrenburg and Cibola check our Facebook Page QuartzsiteCom- munityFoodBank Drop canned or boxed groceries off Tues & Thurs 8-noon 40 N. Moon Mtn. or Dollar General, Road Run- ner or Coyote Fresh. Donate at QuartzsiteFoodBank.com or mail a check making it out to: Friends of the Quartzsite Food Bank, PO Box 4671, Quartzsite, AZ 85359. Thank you! From Ralph Tapscott Horizon Community Bank (HCB) President and CEO Our mission is to be a positive infl uence in the communities we serve. In light of the ever-changing directives and protocols, at both the state and local levels, we deem it prudent to again reduce lobby traffi c within the bank. As a result of Covid-19 issues, we were forced to operate in this type of an envi- ronment through all of April, and I believe we executed with limited client impact. We will once again follow this protocol effective Thurs- day, July 2nd. We encourage you to utilize other methods of accessing your accounts and funding needs. Evolving technologies have made accessing your bank easier. Some methods of access that we encourage you to uti- lize are our online banking, drive- up teller access, our ATM network, our customer care center (928-854- 3000), or make an appointment to come into the bank by calling the customer care center. These are challenging times, and our sincere desire is for all of us and our economies to someday soon re- turn to some level of normalcy. In the interim, we are doing our very best to accommodate you and our communities. up to 3 feet deep to delineate the lateral extent of tailings. Nineteen XRF samples were collected from the fl oodplain terrace, mill area, former excavation pit, and wash (background). Additional soil sam- pling activities were conducted on October 16-18, 2018, to determine the vertical and horizontal extent of contamination Site exceeding ADEQ Residential Soil Remedia- tion Levels (rSRLs). The 2018 data indicated impacts to soils were primarily from lead, arsenic, and mercury sources. An estimated 2,400 cy of material con- taining metal concentrations that exceed naturally occurring back- ground, ADEQ rSRLs, and ecologi- cal screening values remain at the site. Impacted soil is present at the Site from the surface to as deep as 8 feet below the existing ground sur- face over an area of approximately 0.8 acres. Removal Action Alternatives The EE/CA evaluated removal ac- tion alternatives to clean up the site, including: • Alternative 1: No action. • Alternative 2: Creating an on- Site Repository. Impacted soil and mill/process waste material would be excavated and consolidated to a single on-Site repository located on BLM property. Based on previous investigations and removal actions, the impacted soil would require chemical stabilization prior to con- solidation at the onSite repository. A security fence with warning signs would be constructed around the full extent of the repository area. • Alternative 3: Excavating the waste material, stabilizing the ma- terial, and transporting the material to an off-Site RCRA-permitted non- hazardous solid waste facility The removal action alternative recommended for the Moon Moun- tain Mill Site is Alternative 3, exca- vation, stabilization, off-Site dispos- al, and revegetation. Approximately 2,400 cy of waste material and soil will be excavated and transported to the La Paz County Landfi ll. This alternative is the most cost-ef- fective remedy. Alternative 3 achieves all RAOs, complies with ARARs, is easy to implement, and eliminates the need for long-term monitoring and institutional controls. In 2019, the BLM contracted ECM Consultant's Phoenix-based offi ce to evaluate the site. ECM has com- pleted a Draft Final Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EECA) to determine alternatives to remediate the contamination at the site. A public comment period on the EECA will be open for a period of 30 calendar days from July 13 to Aug. 11, 2020. Copies of the draft EECA will be available for public review and commenting through BLM's ePlanning website: https:// eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning- ui/project/2000107/510. If you prefer to receive a hard copy, please contact the BLM's Yuma Field Offi ce at 928-317-3200. Comments may also be mailed to the Yuma Field Offi ce, 7341 E. 30th Street, Suite A, Yuma, AZ 85365. All comments must be received online or postmarked by August 11, 2020 to be considered in the fi nal decision.

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