PERMFILE71973

• Permit No: M2001001
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 3/2/2001
• Doc Name: LETTER OF OBJECTION & CONCERN OF JACK AKIN AND CAROL STEPE IN THE MATTER OF THE LINE CAMP GRAVEL PIT
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Letter of Objection & Conc21'fi "Line Camp Gravel Pit" (Application N: M-2001)
Thursday, March 01, 2001 -Page: 5
• Cadmium;
• Barium;
• Beryllium;
• Chromium;
• Arsenic;
• Other Chromates;
• Mercury (and other mercuric compounds which are much
more toxic than metallic mercury);
• Iron in solution;
• Particulate iron (potentially fatal for persons with heart
problems);
• Any and all other dissolved salts.
Further, concentrations of these toxins and carcinogens will increase
when the alluvial groundwater is disturbed. TDS (total dissolved solids)
runs 300 - 350 ppm right now. From the mining plan and the lack of
specific safeguards in the application, it is likely that the TDS will at
least triple from the operations.
The application misleads the Department as to the level of the alluvial
aquifer. At its lowest point in that area the BEDROCK aquifer is 40 feet
or less. According to the person most familiar with local wells in the area
(Bill McPherson] this operation may hit ariver-bottom well with sand and
rock as shallow as 10 feet. This is because the bedrock alongside the
river undulates alongside the riverbed from between 40 feet to 10 feet or
less along the entire length of the River Valley.
The alluvial aquifer, in most places, may be only two feet below the
surface. [Exhibit E shows groundwater levels adjacent to the proposed
gravel pit.]
Disturbing the alluvial aquifer and lower strata will pollute private
agricultural resources downstream as well as natural resources. The
mining permit fails to disclose that it is premised on the ]ow water levels
of the Dolores River which have existed in recent years.
If the Department of Natural Resources grants the permit it will undo
decades of efforts by the Akin farm, and, the U.S. and Colorado
Departments of Agriculture on land immediately adjacent to the line
camp gravel pit. [Exhibits D and E show U.S. Department of Agriculture
plans for soil erosion control which the mining application permit does
not address because the application does not take into account high-
water levels of the Dolores River].
Four States Aggregates, LLC 01 MAR 2001
Letter of Objection & Concern: Line Camp Pit FSA-LCP-D1-001