FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                                      August 4, 1998

The Sierra Club announced today that it has moved to join the City of Colorado Springs as a defendant in its lawsuit to stop violations of the Federal Clean Water Act caused by the Pikes Peak Highway.  The Sierra Club
had earlier sued the United States Forest Service for granting the City a special use permit to operate and maintain the highway without first obtaining a certification that state standards protecting water quality would not be violated.  The amended suit seeks civil penalties for violations of the Clean Water Act and an injunction against future violations.

"For decades, the Pikes Peak Highway has been clogging the streams and wetlands of Pikes Peak with gravel and sediment.  It's time for the City to clean up its act," said Michael Freeman, an attorney with the Earthjustice
Legal Defense Fund, which is representing the Sierra Club in this suit. The final twelve miles of the Pikes Peak Highway are unpaved, and in recent years the City has applied more than 11,000 tons of gravel to its surface annually.  A City study shows that in the harsh alpine environment, at least 20% of this gravel and dirt flows into down-slope waters.  A Forest Service study has concluded that the biological productivity of streams affected by sediment from the Pikes Peak Highway has declined by 85%.

"Colorado Springs simply hasn't been willing to step up to the plate and take responsibility for the pollution that the highway causes," said Sierra Club member Jim Lockhart.  "It's a tragedy.  Pikes Peak could be an environmental showcase.  Instead, it's an environmental nightmare."

PLEASE CONTACT THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS WITH QUESTIONS

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Pikes Peak Regional Group, Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club
131 Williams Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80905-1413 - Phone: (719) 592-0963
Last updated February 02, 1999.