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INTRODUCTION <br />The 15 Road Pit, located approximately 2.0 miles northwest of Fruita, Colorado in Mesa County, <br />is located on the property immediately east of the Gilsonite Refinery between Highway 50 and <br />Interstate 70. The original permit azea was 188.54 acres with gravel mining taking up <br />approximately 158 acres. Permit M-2002-114 was approved in 2003 for this area. An adjacent <br />land owner, Mesa Grand, LLC, approached United Companies about expanding the mining <br />operation to include a lower terrace azea within there property. This portion of land is unsuitable <br />for their development plans because it lies within the 100-yr floodplain. The expansion will be <br />41.0 acres taking the total permit azea to 229.54 acres with approximately 191.7 acres of mining. <br />For planning purposes, the Mesa Grand expansion will be treated the same as the currently <br />planned pits, leaving lakes with wetland shelves and fringes upon reclamation. It is currently <br />planned that areas of land azound the lakes would be used for industria]/commercial use, which is <br />in concurrence with the master plan of the City of Fruita, although the site is not within City <br />limits. <br />The added lands for the 2006 amendment (41.0 acres) are primarily woods with extrusive <br />tamarisk and Russian olive trees. Of the 41.0 acres added to the permit azea, 40.54 acres of area <br />are on the Mesa Grand, LLC property, which consists of a pond of 3.6 acres in size surrounded <br />by a generally wooded azea of tamarisk, Russian olive and some cottonwoods. An area of <br />approximately 3.7 acres on the western portion of the Mesa Grand, LLC area has been imgated <br />in the past for alfalfa and grass hay. The additional Mesa Grand, LLC portion of the permit area <br />has 0.93 acres of wetlands along the existing pond area. The remaining 0.46 acres of the <br />additional area is located on the United property. The original permit azea, which is owned by <br />United Companies, has been primarily used for irrigation and grazing. <br />A power line and gas line exists on the site which will not be removed. The lakes will leave <br />buffer areas for these lines. <br />The permittee for this site is O1dCastle SW Group, Inc. dba United Companies of Mesa County. <br />The name has been shortened throughout this application to United Companies. <br />IS Road Pit February 07 i-1 <br />