Laserfiche WebLink
999 <br />. 12 November, 1997 <br />Ms. Levern Lemay <br />Minerals Program Assistant to the State of Colorado <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />Division of Minerals and Geology <br />1313 Herman Street, Room 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />M-`fl -og~ <br />~Fr,EivED <br />~uv 1 ~ 1997 <br />~svn;,, ~.~inaraisBGeology <br />Re: Application for a Construction Materials Regular <br />Operation (112) Reclamation Permit by Daren Stone, sole <br />proprietor of an enterprise called Stone Gravel <br />Pit. Proposed pit is located on 158.18 acres located on or <br />near Sections 12 b. 13, Tier 35 North, Range 17 West, New <br />Mexico (10th) Principal Meridian. <br />Dear Ms. Lemay: <br />I request that I be notified of the date of the informal <br />conference to be held concerning this Application so I might <br />participate in the informal conference. I also request that <br />I be granted party status and that this comment letter be <br />considered a "statement of issues" for purposes of the <br />informal conference. <br />You have received, or will be receiving, more detailed <br />questions about the validity of Mr. Stone's application <br />written by the community of people who live nearby the <br />proposed gravel pit. I have followed their efforts to <br />collect information with great interest and not a little <br />alarm. My property is not close enough to this site that it <br />will be directly affected, but I wish to express concern <br />that your office and the BLM have not been more attentive to <br />the incompleteness of Mr. Stone's application. The greatest <br />puzzlement to me is why he has been allowed to alter the <br />site, which is on public land, before a Reclamation Permit <br />has been granted. Seems to me this is putting the cart <br />before the horse in a feckless disregard for the people <br />nearby and for the environment he's altering, particularly <br />when neither a comment period has been scheduled nor an EIS <br />issued by the BLM. Isn't it the responsibility of your <br />office and the BLM to make sure his application contains the <br />permits and plans necessary to control the problems inherent <br />in this endeavor before construction begins? <br />I know that your offices must be overwhelmed by many such <br />applications, and that the funding for investigation of <br />claims and projects is sparse. But it's painful to see a <br />small, quiet community, and a valuable piece of public land <br />that's used by people and wildlife, destroyed. I have public <br />land close to my home, too, and I wonder whether I will long <br />have the use of it, or whether it will be subsumed by a <br />private interest. I beg you to do the best you can to <br />