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County's clean air, clean water, public lands, and healthy wildlife. HCCA has about 900 <br />members who live, recreate, and enjoy the rural and wild character of Gunnison County and its <br />public lands. HCCA is an active participant in public lands management in Gunnison County, <br />including the lands at issue in this case. <br />C. Sierra Club <br />Sierra Club is America's largest grassroots environmental organization, with more than <br />830,000 members nationwide, including more than 24,000 members in Colorado. The Sierra <br />Club is dedicated to exploring, enjoying, and protecting the wild places of the Earth; to <br />practicing and promoting the responsible use of the Earth's resources and ecosystems; to <br />educating and enlisting humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human <br />environment; and to using all lawful means to carry out these objectives. <br />D. Center for Biological Diversity <br />The Center for Biological Diversity is a non-profit environmental organization with over <br />61,000 members, many of whom live and recreate in western Colorado. The Center is <br />headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, with offices in a number of states and Mexico. The Center <br />uses science, policy, and law to advocate for the conservation and recovery of species on the <br />brink of extinction and the habitats they need to survive. The Center has and continues to <br />actively advocate for increased protections for species and their habitats in Colorado. <br />Conservation Groups' specific concerns with DRMS' PR -15 decision are discussed <br />briefly below. <br />ISSUES TO BE RAISED AT THE HEARING <br />First, DRMS regulations prohibit a mining "applicant, his agent, or employee" from <br />restricting "access [to] those portions of the proposed mine plan area necessary for the gathering <br />of information relevant to the conference." MLRB Rule 2.07.3(6)(b)(iii). Mountain Coal and <br />DRMS denied Conservation Groups access to areas necessary for gathering information relevant <br />to the informal conference, in violation of this requirement. <br />Second, MLRB regulations require permit applicants to provide sufficient information to <br />allow for legal entry into the permit area. See MLRB Rule 2.03.6(1). Mountain Coal submitted <br />information to DRMS that was incomplete and changed significantly since its first application. <br />Finally, DRMS failed to meet its obligation to provide for effective public participation, <br />under MLRB 2.07.2(1). <br />Below, Conservation Groups detail these concerns. <br />I. Denial of Conservation Groups' Access to Private Lands During Site Visit Violated <br />DRMS Regulations and SMCRA <br />A person that requests access to the proposed permit area to gather information relevant <br />to the informal conference has broad authority to do so and shall not be restricted by "the <br />