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Geof Schlittgen • 10007 County Road 250 Durango, Colorado 81301 Mr. John N. Reese District Engineer U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1325 J Street Sacramento, Ca. 95814-2922 Re: Public Notice #199475260 Dear Mr. Reese, pENVE:R OFFIGE R2Ce1V2d r AUG 3 ~~ 'j~~`, purnrv~o F~~~?d ~Ntio @O;tsL~n 6t ,.tiw~'.. a C3aao9Y I am responding to the above referenced notices as a concerned adjacent property owner to the Mountain Redi PAix operation. Having lived and been a property owner in the vicinity of the above referenced operation since April of 1978, I have witn~;ssed first hand the results of the mining activities. But before getting into the body of my observations and complaints I would first like to make it known that I am concerned about the thoroughness of the notifications, particularly to those of us specifically impacted by the operations. Although I made certain that a number of specific names be included on the mailing list for said notifications, I find it irregular and disturbing that a number of us were omitted from the actual mailing. Perhaps, in light of the rnagnitude of these operations and their potential significant impacts, it would be reasonable to extend the response period beyond April 15 to allow those omitted from ttie mailing adequate time to respond. In any case, I do strongly feel that a public hearing should be conducted prior to any decisions as regards the permitting of these operations. My concerns regarding these operations stem initially from the fact that my, as well as my neighbor's, irrigation water rights have been dried up as a direct result of the Mountain Redi Mix, Thomas Pit operations. So much gravel has been extracted from this pit that the river bed and banks in the immediate vicinity and up river out:+ide of the permitted area have dropped significantly, altering the flow of the river from its original natural main and eastern most channels directly into the Thomas Pit. A huge "sink hole" has been formed. There is no way that the quantity of aggregate extracted by this operation alone can be naturally replenished by the river. The "war zone" appearance and huge pits will attest to that fact. This operator has "patched" the river bank just enough to put the flow back into the main channel during the low flow winter months but not enough to withstand the spring run off flours which breach their flimsy dike and then allow the full flow of the river into their deep pit bringing in aggregate from the river bed and banks of the neighbors upstream land for the duration of they summer and fall. My water rights consist of .5 c.f.s. from the Wallace Ditch, priority A3 (3rd filing on the ",q..,R TIt^.~_. ~_