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Mmutcs-Ocn?bcr 21, 1998 Paee 43 Past reclamation has not been effective and the requested permu does no[ have adequate conditions for reveee[ation, especially in relation to wildlife habitat. The DMW was out during the water mine mspeclions, and of course. he didn't have a copy of the seed mixture. I sent him a copy of that, and he feels very comfortable that the vegetation that is required is compatible with wildlife habitat s[tuauons. And in addition to that the operator is required to plant lodgepole pine in a large area of the affected land. ?9 acres of the affected land. So the drvision's position is that the vegetation requirements are adequate to meet the proposed postmining land use. We find it hard to accept the belief that any lands within the permit application can be suitable wildlife habitat and are opposed to the proposal to redesignate the land to wildlife habitat. The approved and proposed reclamation plan requires significant revegetation, and here again, I eo into the native grass species and lodgepole pines that they are required to plant. IF it's successful, it will provide a prime forested area with nice Brass understorage. I put on here as an alternative, I guess the operator can withdraw that proposal to chanee the postmining land use and utilize the area for industriallcommercial purposes. That's what ii s zoned for, and that s what [he current postmining land use is. Again, all those issues that do not come under the jurisdiction ~te division Mr. Cohan read those off, and as a result of most of the withdrawals -- I can say that the operator during the informal conference -- Carl Mount was there. He was the chairperson. The operator took an enormous amount of time to sit down with all the people that were complaining and objecting to it even after the three and a half hours of informal conference, the operator stayed there for two or three more hours working with the adjoining landowners. And i've gotten calls from several of them that said that they were well satisfied with the agreements that they came up with. I did tell them that, of course, whatever agreements they have is not enforceable by the division. They said that's fine, but they just wanted to get it put the copy into the files, and a copy of their agreement is in [he files, but it primarily, I think, revolved around a couple of things, their objections. One was that the crusher operation does make a considerable amount of noise, and also the operator was operating well into midnight with some large halogen lights, which, I guess, some of the people said they could read a book at midnight over at their house, which was way across the valley, and he was aware of the problem, and he did go around and try and resolve that. Thai s all been taken care of, and I think [he objectors are well satisfied. ^ l5 so for the division's part, it's our recommendation to approve the amendment application even though we did have objections with one stipulation, 1 should point that out. I'm not sure if I put that in here. 1 guess I didn't. In the stipulation should be that the operator must comply with applicable state water laws or backfill the mined pit. A sufficient bond will be required to backfill the mined pit in case of permit revocation and bond forfeiture. If water right issues are resolved and the operator intends [o leave a pond as paz[ of reclamation plan, the division will approve the plans so the pond is compatible with postmining land use. I'd like that as the stipulation. JAVERNICK: Thais no[ in your letter. DILLIE: I forgot to put it in there, I believe. JAVERNICK: Any questions for Jim? PAULIN: No. JAVERNICK: Mr. Free. FREE: Yes. JAVERNICK: What do you have to say for yourself? Please identify yourself for the record, please. FREE: My name is Bernard Free. I'm the general manager for Snowstorm Sand and Gravel. I think we have pretty well worked out whatever problems there were. As Nlr. Dillie has mentioned, 1 think we have struck a solution to the questions, the problems the objectors had. They are satisfied with our proposals. A number of the objections that they had actually weren't quite really relevant. There are no crushers. The lights were on temporarily. Dust, as Mr. Dillie pointed out, we are not the creator of the dust. That's the objectors driving their vehicles on County Line Road.