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iii iiiiiiiiiiiu iii 999 STATE OF COLORADO DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY Department of Natural Resources 1713 Sherman SL, Room 215 Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone. 1303) 8663567 FAX: X303) 8]28106 June I5, 2001 Mr. James Fulton, Chief Denver Field Office Office of Surface Mining 1999 Broadway, Suite 3320 Denver, CO 80202-5733 Re: Ten-Day Notice 00-140-116-002 -Basin Resources, Inc. DivIG Notice of Violation CV-2000-009 - DMG Permit No. C-S1-013 Dear Mr. Fulton: ~~ D I VISION O F MINERALS GEOLOGY RECLAMATION MINING•SAFETY B,u owem Governor Greg E. Watcher Execuuve Director Michael B. Long Division Direcor This letter is written to apprise the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) of the current status of the above- referenced Ten-Day Notice (TDN) and Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG) Notice of Violation (NOV) actions. The DMG hereby requests that OSM review the enclosed materials and provide a specific determination to DMG, that all actions taken by DMG to date, in the matter of TDN 00-140-1 16-002 are appropriate. The TDN 00-140-1 16-002 was issued to DMG on October 18, 2000 along with a citizen complaint submitted to OSM by Ann Tatum. DMG conducted an inspection of the Tatum property on October 25, 2000 and subsequently issued NOV CV-2000-009. Basin Resources, Inc. requested a hearing before the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board (MLRB) to contest the NOV CV-2000-009. On March 8, 2001, Walton D. Moms, Jr., Counsel for lim and Ann Tatum filed a letter with DMG requesting that the NOV CV-2000-009 be vacated without prejudice, and indicated the previously filed Tatum complaint would be withdrawn without prejudice. The letter from Morris further explained that the Tatum's preference to pursue their claim against Basin Resources, Inc. in court as allowed by Colorado Law under C.R.S. 34-33-135(6). On March 12, 2001, DMG vacated NOV CV-2000-009, without prejudice, for the reasons explained in the DMG letter dated March 12, 2001. Basin objected to this action at the March 21, 2001 meeting of the MLRB. At that hearing the MLRB ruled that the DMG did not have the authority to vacate the NOV, and the MLRB set a new hearing to review the NOV in April 2001. Subsequent to the March 2001 MLRB mling, the Tatums filed for judicial review of the March 2001 MLRB ruling and petitioned the Las Animas District Court to stay the April 2001 MLRB hearing. The stay was granted by the Las Animas District Court. Subsequently, the matter was remanded back to the MLRB for reconsideration at the May 23, 2001 MLRB hearing. The May 23, 2001 MLRB hearing resulted in the MLRB vacating their March 2001 order, thereby concurring with DMG's original action to vacate, without prejudice, NOV CV-2000-009. Enclosed please find the following documents for your review: March 8, 2001 -Letter Morris to Brown March 12, 2001 -Letter Berry to Morris and Anderson March 12, 2001 -Vacation of Notice of Violation or Cessation Order