AZL General Discussion, page-3551

To the contrary, the hydrologist report points out that many of the drill holes will be along the fault that feeds the spring.

Cofer Hot Spring occurs along a geologic fault that likely serves as the conduit for thermal artesian flow from the confined volcanic aquifer to the surface. This fault was first mapped by Davidson (1973) and is shown on Figure 1. The pattern of drillholes for the proposed Phase 3 exploration program straddles the fault in the area immediately to the north and south of Cofer Hot Spring (Figure 2). Drillholes that intersect this fault, or ancillary geologic structures related to this fault, may create new conduits for artesian flow from the confined aquifer, which may result in artesian flow from drillholes. In particular, the collar elevations for proposed drillholes to the south of Cofer Hot Spring in the Bitter Creek area will be 30 to 50 feet lower than the outlet of Cofer Hot Spring. This could result in impacts to flow at Cofer Hot Spring should uncontrolled artesian flow occur from drillholes. From review of the EA, it does not appear that the BLM/Big Sandy Inc. project team has considered these potential hydrogeologic impacts.

See Page 22:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60fb36c796a4113520cf78ab/t/611dcfe5ce0f38366ca3227d/1629343726546/Hualapai+Comments+-+EA+for+Sandy+Valley+Exploration+Project.pdf

This is going to be an important exhibit that the judge will review when the Hualapai sue, if BLM gets around to making a decision favorable to AZL after shoveling out from the DC snow storm. It’s true, that the Nevada tribe has an almost-endangered species going for it. But that’s not the sine qua non of a successful challenge.