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JAMES A. BECKWITH <br />ATTORNEY & COUNSELOR AT LAW <br />303-883-4433 <br />ITHAMER47@gmail.com <br />April 6, 2017 <br />Mr. Tony Waldron, Supervisor <br />Minerals Division <br />Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board <br />1313 Sherman St., Suite 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />RE: Permit Holder: Snowcap Coal Company, Inc. <br />Permit: C-1981-041 <br />Action: TR -69 <br />SUMMARY OF ISSUES AND OBJECTIONS <br />Dear Mr. Waldron: <br />5460 WARD ROAD, SurrF 120 <br />ARVADA, CO 80002 <br />This letter shall constitute the summary requested by you, as the appointed Pre -Hearing <br />Conference Officer (PCHO) of the issues and objections to TR -69 of my client, Rudy and Carol <br />Fontanari, Trustees of the Fontanari Family Revocable Trust. ("Fontanari", collectively). <br />Application <br />Snowcap Coal Company ("Snowcap") seeks Board approval to install two grout plugs in <br />lands owned by Jason P. Carey ("Carey") and Fontanari: each adjacent to the other and located <br />in Sec. 34-TIOS-R98W-6`" PM. These will be referred to as the "Carey Tract" and "#71 Tract" <br />(from the last two digits of the Assessor's Parcel number). One plug is proposed for what <br />Snowcap identifies as the "air shaft", while the second plug is proposed for a "vertical shaft in <br />the Carey Pond". Snowcap asserts that each grout plug will eliminate a hydrologic connection <br />confirmed to exist by the Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety ("DRMS"), in its Proposed <br />Decision, No. SL -08 (November, 2015). Generally described, in June, 2014, irrigation water <br />was applied to the surface of #71 Tract (Fontanari) in a "flood irrigation" method. The irrigation <br />water "immediately disappeared" (DRMS description) down a sinkhole that opened in the lateral <br />irrigation ditch in which the water was running. This water then entered the collapsed coal <br />caverns located approximately 100 ft. underground; which water then built pressure on the sealed <br />portal of the South Portal Mine (a/k/a Roadside Mine). After the irrigation was terminated, the <br />pressure on the seal portal subsided: suggesting a causal connection. <br />