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17 November 2013 <br />To: Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />From: Paul A. Lightsey <br />2400 East 16th Street <br />Greeley, CO 80631 <br />'Nnv 19 2013 <br />Division of <br />t eva ytion' <br />k� <br />Subject: PUBLIC NOTICES: Varra - Coulson Resource Project, Regular Impact (112) Permit <br />Application M- 2013 -064 - Required Information for Adjacent Landowners. <br />Dear Persons: <br />We received the notification by mail on 16 October 2013 regarding the Permit Application stated in the <br />subject line of this letter. On the 21 of October I called Varra Companies, Inc. and requested copies of <br />additional documentation; specifically, the Stability Analysis Report and the Dewatering Report. We <br />received those documents by mail on 26 October 2013. <br />After reviewing those documents, I sent a letter to Varra expressing our concerns about ground water <br />impacts from the dewatering process. Our particular concern is related to the impacts on our well and <br />our pasture. In the Dewatering Evaluation Report prepared by AWES, LLC dated 22 July 2013, Plate 4 <br />shows the results for the Durham Pumping Simulation which is representative of the current conditions. <br />On Plate 4, the location of our well falls on the 4620 ft contour for the water elevation and our pasture <br />lies between the 4620 ft and 4625 ft contours. The Coulson Pumping Simulation results presented on <br />Plate 5 show what will happen for the proposed Varra- Coulson Project. On Plate 5 the water height at <br />our well drops to around 4598 ft, or a drop of 22 ft. Likewise, the contours in our pasture drop to as low <br />as 4605 ft. Comparing observed to calculated values presented on Plate 6, the uncertainty is on the <br />order of 4 ft. <br />Our current well uses a centrifugal pump located just below grade level. The centrifugal pump depends <br />on suction and therefore cannot lift water greater than the atmospheric pressure, which is nominally <br />648 Torr, or equivalent to 28.9 ft of water at the altitude of our house. Considering that the water table <br />is typically 5 to 7 ft below the pump during wet, non- drought conditions, an additional drop of 22 ft <br />would mean our well would be of marginal use in wet years, and in dry conditions, of no use in its <br />current configuration. In addition, the growth of grasses in our pasture depends on the sub irrigation <br />from the water table for moisture. A drop in the water table will cause a noticeable reduction in <br />biomass production of forage in our pasture for our animals. <br />We wish to have these concerns on record and looking forward to how these concerns will be addressed <br />and mitigated. <br />n Paul A. Lightsey <br />