REP27197

• Permit No: M1994114
• IBM Index Class Name: Report
• Doc Date: 11/18/1997
• Doc Name: ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

OURANGO
OFFICE
STATE OF COLORPADO
DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman 51., Room 215

Denver, Colorado 80203 I~~
Phone: [phone]
FA%: 1303) 8328706
DEPARTMEI~IT OF
NATURAL
RESOURCES
July 30, 1997
Ray Romer
Governor
Mr. Stephen H. Kinney 1,mess.l«nneaa
207 North Orchard Erecuiive Director
Farmington, NM 87401 Michael 8. Long
Dwision Duector
RE: Review of the Public Notice aspects of the Orion Pit Application, File No. M-94-1 15
Dear Mr. Kinney:
In our correspondence to the applicant dated June 4, 1997, we informed the applicant that the Orion
Pit application was received as of June 3, 1997. The term "received" carries the same meaning as
"submitted" or "filed" and pertains to a complete application package that has met the basic
application content requirements set forth in the Rules. However, receipt of a complete application
shall not be construed to mean that there are no other technical deficiencies in the application. The
Division will review the complete application to determine whether it is adequate to meet the
requirements of the Rules. The completeness requirement is found in several sections of the Rules,
depending on whether the requirement pertains to application fee submittal requirements (Rule 1.4.1
(111, public notice requirements (Rule 1.6.2 (1)), or the requirements for application exhibits (Rule 6).
Additionally, please refer to the portion of Rule 1 .4.1 (1) which states that "All information submitted
in an application must be accurate and complete".
Our June 4, 1997 correspondence also indicated that within 10 days after submittal (meaning 10 days
after the date the application had been deemed complete and therefore considered received, filed, or
submitted), the applicant needed to publish notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality
of the proposed mining operation once a week for four (4) consecutive weeks, and that immediately
after the first publication, the applicant needed to mail a copy of the notice to all owners of record of
surface rights and all owners. of record of lands that are within 200 feet of the boundary of the
affected land. This requirement is found in Rule 1.6.2 (11 Idl & le). To date, we have not received
any verification from the applicant indicating that publication of the newspaper notice occurred within
the required ten day period !June 3, 1997 to June 13, 19971, or that any notices were mailed
immediately after the first publication date to all owners of record of surface rights and all owners of
record of lands that are within 200 feet of the boundary of the affected land.
The Division did receive proof of publication of a newspaper notice, and partial but incomplete proof
of surface owner notifications, in correspondence & attachments from Mr. Charles Kinney dated June
17, 1997 and received by the Division on June 20, 1997. However, the newspaper publication dates
and the surface owner notification mailing and/or receipt dates shown on the attachments are all
clearly prior to the date the application was deemed complete and are therefore invalid. As such, the
applicant has failed to follow the public notice requirements set forth in the Rules by not re-publishing
the public notice and by not re-noticing surface owners within the required time period after receipt
of a complete application. The fact that the application was still incomplete as of the dates the notices
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