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COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT <br />HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AND WASTE MANAGEMENT DIVISION <br />INTERAGENCY COMMUNICATION <br />DATE: October 3, 2003 <br />TO: Bruce Humphries -Division of Minerals and Geology <br />Carl Mount -Division of Minerals and Geology <br />Steve Shuey -Division of Minerals and Geology <br />FROM: Walter Avramenko - Hazazdous Materials and Waste Management Division <br />SUBJECT: Proposed Gravel Mining at the Former Fruita Refinery <br />Afrer our telephone conference call earlier in the week, I began thinking about our conversation <br />and became concerned that we might be loosing sight of what it is we are trying to accomplish at <br />the FMM site and why. Nor was I confident that all participants of that phone call at the <br />Division of Minerals and Geology aze familiar with the issue at stake. So here's a reminder of <br />what's going on. <br />This former refinery, owned by Fruita Marketing and Management, Inc., (FMM), is <br />currently subject to the requirements of the Colorado Department of Public Health and <br />Environment's (CDPHE) Compliance Order No. 98-06-OS-Ol. This order defines a <br />process whereby the FMM will clean up both soil and ground water contamination. Prior <br />to the involvement of FMM, the facility was abandoned by the previous owner who went <br />bankrupt, during which time nothing was being done to remediate known releases. <br />FMM's amval revived hopes of having this property cleaned up. <br />Under our Order, FMM is required to place a large percentage of their sales into an <br />escrow account that can only be spent on the investigation and cleanup of the facility. To <br />date, this account is largely funded through the lease of 3 onsite storage tanks. FMM has <br />few other sources of income available for site cleanup. Seventy (70%) of the revenues <br />generated from the gravel mining will be deposited into the escrow account for the site <br />that is administered by the CDPHE and will be used to clean up other portions of the <br />refinery. <br />FMM has no significant resources to apply to the cleanup of the site. Recognizing this <br />reality, the CDPHE has structured the corrective action process such that work is <br />performed in a phased manner, moving from the least contaminated area of the facility to <br />the more highly contaminated areas. This work is perfonned using money from the <br />escrow account during the course of the yeaz, until it is depleted. The successful cleanup <br />of the more contaminated areas of the facility will require that FMM generate more funds <br />for this purpose, money that can only be generated through the lease/sale of property, <br />