LEADVILLE - The turmoil of the past few months over the Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel has produced a framework to end federal turf battles over mine water cleanup in the Arkansas Valley, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar told a small crowd in Leadville Tuesday evening.

“I want us to have a joint way forward between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Reclamation,” Salazar said. “It’s important for the communities downstream who depend on the river.”

Salazar, addressing a meeting of residents who came to learn details of a risk assessment report by Reclamation, recapped a process that began seven months ago with an apparent stalemate between Reclamation and the EPA over a mine pool of 500,000 to 2 million gallons of water caused by blockage in the Leadville Tunnel.

He cited a letter he received earlier this year from the EPA that said negotiations had stalled.

“I never want to hear those words again,” Salazar said. “That ‘previous efforts have stalled over issues of responsibility and funding.’ ” The letter to Salazar came after the Lake County Commissioners declared an emergency at the Leadville Tunnel because high groundwater levels were causing seepage in California Gulch, a separate mining district where water channels interconnect with the Leadville Tunnel.

Tests showed high levels of heavy metals like cadmium and zinc were leaching out of old tailings and mine works because of the high water levels.

Subsequent to the commissioners’ action, Gov. Bill Ritter wrote a letter to President Bush asking for immediate action. In the months that followed, there were weekly meetings between federal and state agencies to come up with solutions, mostly following the lead of Lake County Commissioners who put forward a four-point plan:

Relieve pressure in the short term on the back side of the mine pool by pumping clean water into the Arkansas River from the Gaw Shaft in California Gulch.

Drill a well into the Leadville Tunnel above the blockage to remove contaminated water, pipe it and treat it at Reclamation’s water plant at the end of the tunnel.

Relieve blockage from the Canterbury Tunnel, upstream from the Leadville Tunnel, to prevent flows from migrating to the Leadville Tunnel.

Flume water away from adits or shafts in Evans Gulch.

The federal government moved on the Gaw Shaft and tunnel pumping suggestions almost immediately. The state and Lake County are still looking at the Canterbury Tunnel and Evans Gulch proposals.

Salazar hailed those suggestions, particularly the idea of pumping contaminated water from above the blockage, saying Reclamation’s treatment plant was “underutilized.”

The risk assessment study by Reclamation recommends more monitoring of Leadville Tunnel water pressures and improvements to early warning systems for nearby residents. Salazar applauded Reclamation for accepting those recommendations.

“Here is the reality,” Salazar said. “We’re pleased that no one is in imminent danger. We needed to find that out. But people are favorably encouraged that something is happening and that we have a way forward.”

Salazar also supports legislation, passed in the House, that clarifies Reclamation’s role in treating water that is pumped from the Leadville Tunnel, as well as water that flows through the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Lake County Commissioners Mike Hickman, Carl Schaeffer and Ken Olsen, who attended Reclamation’s briefings Tuesday, were pleased with progress that has been made so far.

“Things are progressing,” Hickman said.