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I have also enclosed pages 20-7 and 20-8 of the Roadside Mine <br />permit application document, which address subsidence control and <br />mitigation. The paragraph which begins at the bottom of page 20-7 <br />addresses potential subsidence effects to your property, and method <br />of mitigation. My understanding is that the operator has acted <br />cooperatively in the past to repair subsidence cracks which have <br />developed on your irrigation ditches. Please let me know if you <br />believe that renewable resource lands on your property have been <br />materially damaged, and not "restored or rehabilitated to a <br />condition capable of maintaining the value and reasonably <br />foreseeable and appropriate uses they were capable of supporting <br />before subsidence, to the extent technologically and economically <br />feasible". We would need a description of the specific nature of <br />the damage and location of the affected areas. <br />As I mentioned on the phone, I would be glad to meet with you on <br />the property at your convenience, either right away or next spring <br />prior to irrigation. Also, you have the right to request an <br />inspection for violations if you believe that a violation has <br />occurred, or that any imminent danger or harm exists, pursuant to <br />Rule 5.02.5. I have enclosed the section of the regulations <br />applicable to citizen request inspections as well. <br />With regard to land which might be sold to Ute Water to be used for <br />settling tanks or other industrial or commercial facilities, it is <br />not clear what obligations, if any, Powderhorn would have under the <br />Act and Regulations, if the area in question has already been <br />undermined. The Division would have the regulatory authority to <br />limit or disallow mining beneath such facilities before the fact, <br />but we have no authority to restrict use or require mitigation if <br />such facilities were to be constructed after an area has been <br />undermined. The surface owner protection measures of Rule <br />4.20.3(2)(b) apply to occupied residential dwellings and related <br />structures, but not to commercial facilities. <br />Your letter indicates that you feel Powderhorn Coal should be <br />responsible for any problems that might develop in the future <br />should more development occur in the area, and that you don't want <br />Powder Mountain Ranch to have any responsibility for problems that <br />might develop under land that you may sell. In addition to the Ute <br />Water facilities, you indicate that people are interested in <br />purchasing land from you for home sites. <br />Under the Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act and <br />Regulations, the coal operator would be responsible (to the extent <br />technologically and economically feasible) for restoration or <br />rehabilitation of renewable resource lands for which the value or <br />reasonably foreseeable use has been reduced or which have been <br />materially damaged by mining caused subsidence. The operator is <br />also responsible for repair, replacement, or compensation for <br />damage to occupied residential dwellings and related structures or <br />noncommercial buildings. I am not sure what all of the legal <br />ramifications of selling land for homesites or other structures on <br />previously undermined land would be, but I would think it would be <br />