Opposition Letter

• Description: Related to River Protection Workgroup's ‎(RPW)‎ Animas River Workgroup
• State: CO
• Basin: San Juan/Dolores
• Water Division: 7
• Date: 1/17/2013
• Author: Todd Hennis, Salem Minerals Inc.
• Title: Opposition Letter
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Meeting

Salem Minerals Inc.
P.O. Drawer I
645 Water St.
Silver Plume, CO
USA 80476
Tel.[phone]
Fax [phone]
To:Animas River Protection Workgroup January 17,2013
To all participants and Federal Agencies:
Salem Minerals Inc., San Juan Corp.,The Gladstone Institute,Inc. and Todd C.Hennis as an individual, all
being major landowners in the Animas Basin in San Juan County,Colorado,wish to declare:
1. We are in total opposition to any wild and scenic river designation of the main stem of the Animas
River below Silverton,Colorado or any of its upstream contributing segments,or any management of these
as a wild and scenic river,whether for recreational or other purposes.
Our reasons for this opposition to designation or management of any of these waterways is guided by the
simple fact that San Juan County,Colorado contains the nation's largest amount of strategic metal
occurrences and deposits in the United States,and that changing the status of the Animas River to wild and
scenic or managing it as a wild and scenic river will greatly impair the ability to produce minerals from
these deposits,especially in times of a national emergency. Any such designation or change of
management of the Animas from its current status is extremely detrimental to our national security.
2.We emphatically do not want any further changes to the land management practices of the Alpine Loop
area.
The attempt of a RPW steering committee member to push for a National Conservation Area or other
impediments to natural resource access is totally against our national security interests, as per Point#1,
above.
3. We do not any further"watershed wide management"efforts or schemes beyond those currently in force
by existing regulations.
The plethora of existing regulations for the Animas River watershed area serve to meet all management
needs. We don't need any more regulatory schemes or bodies,or advisory bodies.
4.The entire Animas River Protection Workgroup has been from its inception heavily biased to obtain
some consensus for a wild and scenic river designation. This bias has been in the selection of a steering
committee(and funding)from a select environmental group and government agencies,and the refusal by
the steering committee to publish written information submitted by participants contrary to the steering
committee's purpose..
The fact that the group consensus has been not in favor of any wild and scenic river designation for
segments of the Animas,and that all the "real stakeholders"who own lands or run businesses on the upper
Animas watershed oppose any changes to the current status of the river speaks for itself.The Forest service
should not change the existing status of the Animas River.
For Salem Minerals Inc., San Juan Corp, and The Gladstone Institute, Inc. For Todd C.Hennis
Todd C.henms,President Individually