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~II ~~~~I~~I~~~~~ ~~~ 999 R= M R OC K COAL COM PA N Y September 16, 1989 Ms. Susan Mowry, Reclamation Specialist ~ ~ ~ ~~~ Mined Land Reclamation Division Department of Natural Resources 423 Centennial Building SFP 1 B 1999 1313 Sherman Street MINED LAND Denver, Colorado 80203 RECLAMATIGN DIVISIC)N Dear Ms. Mowry: As you are probably aware Rimrock Coal Company went through a 'NOTICE OF INTENT' to strip mine coal southeast of Trinidad, Colorado last March with the publication of four weekly notices in the local newspaper without any responses to MLRD against the project. Recently, however, an individual named Gerald Montoya is relating the mining operation to Fisher's Peak, and the historical significance of Engleville and the Engleville coal mine of which there is none according to the Colorado Historical Society, at least as being eligible for the National Register of Historical Places. This hype has led to quite a controversy with individuals arguing for and against strip mining. Underlying all of this is the fact that the people of Trinidad and of Las Animas County have lost faith when an persons, such as myself, says he will reclaim the land and will be bonded in such s way that reclamation is guaranteed. This was all brought out quite clearly by Ms. Cozette Henritze, editor of the local Chronicle Hews newspaper, when I said I would do these things. She asked how the reclamation would be any different than the two strip mines north of Trinidad when the operator's defaulted and the reclamation bonds were insufficient to properly reclaim the disturbed ground. One of the mines she was talking about is near Gulnare on a Smith property, and the other is southwest of Aguilar, and I am not familiar with either mine, the bonding, or reclamation. In order for the Mined Land Reclamation Division to re-establish the public's trust in their ability to set bonding rates and properly monitor strip coal mining activities in Las Animas