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Tuesday,June 5, 2018 <br /> Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board 06 O <br /> I� <br /> Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety •� <br /> Colorado Department of Natural Resources <br /> 1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 <br /> Denver, CO 80203 <br /> Re: Application for Permit by <br /> Empire Aggregate, Inc. <br /> 1935 65 b Avenue#1 <br /> Greeley, CO $0634 <br /> Filing Date: March 29, 2018 <br /> Ladies and Gentlemen: <br /> I just became aware of an application for a permit for a new sand and gravel mine in Empire, <br /> Colorado due to a community meeting on Thursday, May 31, 2018. 1 urge you to-the <br /> permit for at least the following reasons. <br /> First,the permit application is incomplete, superficial, and obscures several important features: <br /> 1. The application merely mentions, as an aside comment,the intention to set up <br /> portable asphalt and cement preparation facilities. While this is permitted when I read <br /> the pamphlet from the Division of Reclamation,Mining and Safety,the way the <br /> application is worded makes me think this is an attempt to obscure the full nature of <br /> the intended operation. I think the road infrastructure is already too small to support <br /> just a mining operation. A full-fledged industrial installation that is producing asphalt <br /> and concrete is not described in the application. This represents an effort to obscure <br /> the intent of the owners in the development of this property. This is underhanded and <br /> sly. <br /> 2. The application describes plans to wash sand and gravel with water provided by new <br /> wells or from runoff. The volume of water required is staggeringly large. The <br /> application is silent about where this water will go nor does the application consider <br /> the effects on the neighboring west fork of Clear Creek and its use for drinking water <br /> from downstream water rights owners or for its use as a recreational area. I think the <br /> application purposely obscures the likely impact because to draw attention to it would <br /> doom the application on environmental impact grounds. <br /> 3. The Town of Empire and those in unincorporated areas rely on well water when <br /> surface water is inadequate. It seems quite likely that the impact of the operators of <br /> this permit with deplete the water table and the source of water. The application is <br /> silent about this consideration or its mitigation. <br /> 4. The proposed mining operation is adjacent of the Town of Empire,not 0.5 miles from <br /> the town border as the application suggests. The town water treatment plant is directly <br /> 1 <br /> Von Gunten opposition to Empire Aggregates, Inc. application for Sand &Gravel Mine <br />