2018-12-12_REVISION - M2018016 (7)

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1 i I-70. The final section of the report summarizes our findings and identifies winners iand losers. iThe Benefits of Sand and Gravel Mining Sand and gravel are used for the construction and repair of roads and highways. i Increased economic activity and population growth naturally result in an increased demand for this product. Thus, it is no surprise that Empire Aggregates is interested in the Douglas Mountain Ranch site for a sand-and-gravel pit, as Colorado has been i one of the fastest growing states in the country,with the Denver area mirroring Colorado's growth on the whole. Since 2016 Colorado has added somewhat over 77,000 new residents, increasing the state's population to more than 5.6 million. Denver added nearly 10,000 residents from July 2017 to July 2018,with its population reaching nearly 705,000 residents. (Those strong figures notwithstanding, a recent Denver Post analysis suggested that growth in Colorado ihad slowed from 2.8 percent in 2015 to below two percent in 2018.9) According to DMRM-September 2018,the gravel pit mining operation will follow i the production schedule provided in Tablel, indicating that the mine will produce 500,000 tons during each of the first three years of start-up and one million tons annually thereafter over 20 years,totaling 10.5 million tons of gravel between 2018 iand 2031.10 Atone million tons production, DMRM estimates income of $1,780,515,11 of which $598,900 would be from road base and $1,181,615 from crushed stone.12 The permit area requested is 68 acres.13 ' Sales of construction aggregates in the United States have been forecast to expand at P i a 2.9 percent annual rate through 2019 to 2.8 billion metric tons, recovering from the steep declines that occurred as a result of the 2007-2009 economic recession. In 2015, the latest data available from the United States Geological Survey, there were ' 9 Jon Murray, Denver Post, March 22, 2018, on line. 10 Unfortunately,the totals on Table 1 do not add up either in terms of years or production. Further, DMRM-July 2018 indicates that a minimum estimate of 15 million tons of sand and gravel would be removed over a period of at least twenty years. 11 DMRM-July 2018,Appendix 2. ' 12 Crushed stone is made from rocks that have been broken down by machines called crushers,giving the stones more angular surfaces. Gravel, on the other hand, is produced by the natural processes of weathering and erosion, and typically has a more rounded shape ' verses the angular surfaces of stone. Crushed material would be used as a based to lay concrete. 13 See DMRM-September 2018, Exhibit A. However,this figure is internally contradicted in i the Introduction of the same document that states that the total permit area is to be 68.2 acres.The revised July 2018 document specifies that there are two project areas of which 3.5 acres will be the access road and 70 acres will before the construction materials i operation. Remaining acres of the total 161-acre parcel will be for properties and undisturbed areas. 8