Laserfiche WebLink
5040,4owa 5#4eet <br /> Dewm, eO 80216 <br /> 0#ice; (303) 918-1215 NWT,, (303) 295-1256 <br /> February 16, 2016 RECEIVED <br /> Mined Land Reclamation Board FEB 16.2016 <br /> C/o Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety <br /> 1313 Sherman St,4215 DIVISION OF RECLAMATION <br /> Denver,CO 80215 MININGAND SAFETY <br /> Dear Board Members; <br /> RE: Aggregate Industries,Inc. - Hazeltine Mine <br /> M-2004-031 Amendment 01 <br /> Adjoining owner objection letter <br /> This letter and the attached report contain the reasoning for my objections to the above referenced <br /> Amendment filed by Aggregate Industries for their Hazeltine Mine. I do not believe that this Amendment <br /> will correct the disturbance to areas outside the permit boundary. Nor will it minimize the disturbance to <br /> the prevailing hydrologic balance of the areas east of their mine, as directed by the Mined Land <br /> Reclamation Board on March 18, 2015. If it does anything, it will only drain the surface so there is less <br /> standing water on my property and will do nothing to lower the groundwater elevation to its historic <br /> elevation. When this is the case, I will have to deal with a swampy parcel of land from now on and this <br /> has/will reduce the property's value for any type of development. In effect, this takes away my enjoyable <br /> use of the property. Included in this packet are a series of photos starting in 1948 showing that the entire <br /> property had been used in a variety of uses that were not compatible with swampy areas. Only after 2005 <br /> did the property become saturated and unusable, unless you're a duck. Leaving the groundwater elevated <br /> at its present level on my property also does not correct the findings in the Board Order to protect areas <br /> outside the affected lands from damage. It requires mitigating the mounding not dewatering the surface. <br /> Attached is an analysis of the technical report from the Amendment <br /> (AM01) prepared by Steve O'Brian of Environment, Inc., that leads me to this conclusion. You may <br /> disagree with some of the points he puts fourth but in short, if Aggregate Industries does not place a <br /> horizontal drain system at an elevation below the ground surface then it cannot drain the underlying <br /> gravel strata or hope to approximate the historic groundwater elevation on our property. <br /> I fear that they foresaw the future when in an Adequacy Response to the Division of Reclamation Mining <br /> and Safety dated 6/9/15, where they state(bold italics added for emphasis) <br /> ". . .would also impact pre-mining jurisdictional wetlands on both the Orr and Al properties as <br /> well as mitigation wetlands that have been constructed on Al's property in accordance with <br /> approved 404 permit(DA file# 199980194)." <br /> They have increased the jurisdictional wetland from 0.03 ac f to approximately 3.29 ac. so it now <br /> covers 73.27% of our property making it virtually impossible to use the land for anything that <br /> would involve destroying the wetlands. The pre-mining, wetlands they refer to on the Orr Property <br /> is the 0.03 acres associate with where the historic Fulton Ditch/Bull Seep confluence was. Equity <br /> Funding was not part of the 404 permit noted in their reply and has little concern for their wetlands. <br />