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I:ANI?1 LLU'~ I~!l, l'. bl'lI 1~~1 R.O. Ilo ~: ! i91 tit CENTRO, CALIFORNIA 922=14 April 20,1993 GOVERNOR ROY ROMER 136 STATE CAPITOL DENVC•R, COLO. 80203 Sir: Iam writing to you concerni~ig a matter of economics and year round employment in Garfield County. My family and Abraxus has been trying to create year round jobs for a minimum of 80 people and boost the local economy . The family leas owned the Harvey Gap Coal mine for the last 50 years. Up until 2 years ago we were supplying coal to the local market. The decision was made to try and increase our production from 700G tons a year to at least 200,000 tons, therefore helping the local economy. The Harvey Gap Coal Mine is all underground, situated in a natural gap on the Grand Hogback. The coal has some of the highest BTU's in the State and therefore would be a minor impact on the environment. With the environment in mind the mining plaits were made with the latest state of the art equipment available for underground mining. We have complied with all the Board of Supervisors demands, even though they change every time we meet, for obtaining new mining permits. The Board's last demand is that we rebuild the county road to the mine and through the Gap. The cost of doing this is about two million dollars. We are willing to do this, even though logging trucks have used and destroyed this road for years and have not been held accountable. In a way this is slightly undemocratic, but we will agree to comply with this demand. Our family, Abraxus and the board are now arriving at an impasse. We are willing to rebuild the road and comply with all the Hoards reasonable demands but we need the coal mining permits to obtain the funds to put these demands into action. The funny thing is the family gave. the county the ground for the fishing lake in back of the hogback that this road leads too. To make mining the Harvey Gap Mine an economical venture for the State, County, Silt and us, we are requesting coal permits Eor 200,000 tons annually as a starting point. We have contracts for this coal to be used in the State utility plants. This amount could be increased considerably when all the parties concerned are satisfied with our good faith and quality of production. ~ ~=~,. 1 ~t~, , , ,. ~, ~1 ~ l w yYa <,\, • ~.i c~~.=~ 1. 1 \} , c' ~ ~ _ ;