PERMFILE51935

• Permit No: M2000080
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Name: INFORMAL CONFERENCE PACKAGE
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

May 20, 1999
Memorandum
TO: Attendees of Meetings and Heazings regazding Mining Reclamation Permit Matters
FROM: Division of Minerals and Geology
RE: Party Status in Matters Before the Mined Land Reclamation Board
The purpose of this memorandum is to inform people who are interested in the Board hearing
process of the statutory and regulatory definitions and provisions that will apply to them
should they decide to participate as parties in an agency hearing.
I. In order to become a party to a matter before the Mined Land Reclamation
Board, you must submit a written statement showing how you may be "affected or
aggrieved" by the Board's decision, and outlining the issues or concerns you want the
Board to consider at the final hearing. Your statement must be submitted prior to,
during, or within five working days after the Informal Conference held by the Division
staff.
The State Administrative Procedures Act, C.R.S. §§ 24-4-10] to 108 ("APA") defines
a party to include "any person or agency named or admitted as a party, or properly seeking and
entitled as of right to be admitted as a party, in any court or agency proceeding subject to the
provisions of this article." C.R.S. § 24-4-102(11). A party to a matter that will be settled in
an agency hearing is "[a] person who maybe affected or aggrieved by agency action" who
files a written request with the agency to become a party, such request "setting forth a brief
and plain statement of the facts which entitle him to be admitted and the matters which he
claims should be decided." C.R.S. § 24-4-10~(2)(c). See also Rules 1.4.6(2) and 2.7.1(1)(b)
of the Hard Rock Rules or Construction Materials Rules.
In order to become a party to a matter before the Mined Land Reclamation Board
("Board"), an interested person must submit a written statement of objection meeting the
above requirements during the public comment period, at an Informal Conference, or within
the five working-day period following the Informal Conference, as provided in Rule 1.4.6 of
the Hard Rock Rules or Construction Materials Rules.
~ "Aggrieved" is defined in the APA at C.R.S. § 24-4-102(3.5) to mean "having suffered
actual loss or injury or being exposed to potential loss or injury to legitimate interests
including, but not limited to, business, economic, aesthetic, governmental, recreational, or
conservational interests." The statutory definition applies only to rule-making, but the
definition has been extended to agency adjudicatory proceedings b}• the Colorado Supreme
Court. National Wildlife Federauon v. Cotter CorP., 66~ P2d X98, 603 (Colo. 1983).