2014-07-15_REPORT - M1988044 - Laserfiche WebLink

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future annual reports will not include comments on the riparian corridor unless something unusual happens. Future reports will only discuss conditions in the upland mining or any particular connections between reclamation areas and the stream corridor such as sediment discharge or something similar of considerable and extraordinary impact. RECLAMATION PERMIT STATUS: No changes in the permit occurred in the last year. However, large changes to the permit are in process,but none have been acted upon at this point. First is an acreage reduction request. This will remove all the land under permit that is no longer included in the lease. It will potentially also remove from the permit the reclaimed land in the separated 80 acre lease area on the south end of the originally permitted and lease site. If this occurs, then nearly 2,000 acres will be removed from the Reclamation Permit and will reduce the permit down to approximately 715 acres from over 2,600 acres. The tentative permit area is shown with a wide red outline on the status map. Except for one area that includes oil and gas activities and was previously removed from the permit, the Reclamation Permit boundary is congruent with the lease boundary. Although the permit could have been reduced a great deal more by excluding reclaimed and released land, that would produce a complex permit boundary. Therefore, it is simply easier and less complex to keep the permit boundary as consistent as possible with the lease boundary. It has to be pointed out that although the permit boundary(and the lease)contains a good deal more land than is actually needed, that does not mean that Schmidt can operate in those other areas. Operations are completely controlled by the approved operation plan in the lease and the Reclamation Permit issued by the Mined Land Reclamation Board. Operating outside the approved areas is a possible violation of State law and the permit. Once all the changes are completed to the Reclamation Permit a new copy of the Reclamation Permit will be provided and new lease base maps will be prepared, as needed. Until then, information in this report is tentative and subject to change as changes are made in the permit documents. 404 PERMIT STATUS: The 404 permit mitigation requirements were met and approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. No further analysis of the bottomland vegetation within the exclosures is required. However, this should not be taken to mean that the other requirements of the permit have been lifted and the site is now in a condition where anything anyone wants to do in the riparian corridor can proceed. Those requirements continue so long as there is a riparian corridor and a United States Clean Water Act. Any disturbances such as mining, drilling, or construction activities or any other modifications to the riparian corridor must first be approved by the Corps under the applicable and appropriate permit requirements. And the conditions of the permit whose provisions have been met are still applicable. It is important to recognize that a 404 permit such as the one issued does not actually apply to the party that was issued the permit,but applies to the land irrespective of how ownership of that land might change. Therefore, even though Schmidt has completed their responsibilities it is now the responsibility of the State of Colorado to keep the land in compliance with the terms of the permit and the Clean Water Act. In the event the State Land Board staff does not have a complete copy of the permit, one can be supplied in digital format by requesting such from Schmidt or the permit file can be reviewed at the Corps offices near Chatfield Reservoir in Littleton. As Schmidt scanned the complete and quite large file a few years ago and has everything since then, requesting a digital copy Status report for 2014 due July 15, 2014 Page 3 of 10