2008-10-23_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - M1985023

• Permit No: M1985023
• IBM Index Class Name: GENERAL DOCUMENTS
• Doc Date: 10/23/2008
• Doc Name: Complaint
• From: DRMS
• To: Law Offices of Luke J. Danielson
• Email Name: RCO
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
October 23, 2008

Mr. Luke J. Danielson
Law Offices of Luke J. Danielson
108 W. Tomichi Ave., Suite D
Gunnison, CO 81230
STATE OF COLORADO
VQECMIi)
OCT 2 l t'b_d
Divisicio c. ,
Re: Hollenbeck Pit, Permit M-1985-023, Complaint Regarding Period of "No Mining" at Pit.
Dear Mr. Danielson,
COLORADO
D I V I S I ON OF
RECLAMATION
MINING
SAFETY
Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor
Harris D. Sherman
Executive Director
Ronald W. Cattany
Division Director
Natural Resource Trustee
As we had discussed by phone during the past couple weeks, I have very recently been reassigned responsibility
for permitted operations in Gunnison County, the Hollenbeck Pit (permit no. M-1985-023) being among them.
Thank you for your patience in allowing me to receive the permit file from our Grand Junction office and
become familiar with its contents.
I reviewed the materials your office submitted to the Division, on behalf of your client Scott Yates, concerning a
possible problem due to a period of years during which there was no apparent mining occurring at the
Hollenbeck Pit. I have likewise reviewed the relevant Construction Materials Rules and Regulations (the Rules)
and the Construction Materials Act, CRS 34-32.5-101 et seq. (the Act). Since this is a matter of concern to Mr.
Yates, who may not be familiar with our areas of jurisdiction, I have tried to be clear in the following
explanations, and apologize if they seem excessively wordy. I offer the following background and citations as
bases for our findings.
Mr. Hollenbeck succeeded as the permitted operator of this site in 1999. Your submittal included copies of
Hollenbeck, Inc.'s annual reports, which in most cases included statements indicating no work, no activity, or no
mining. The copies of the Division's inspection reports also included indication of little to no mining-related
activity. Further materials submitted by your office included recent photographs of dust raised by a dump truck
driving on the pit access road.
Although the definitions contained in the Rules, for the terms "extraction" and "mining," (see Rules 1.1(15) and
(26), respectively) do not include mention of mining-related activities such as processing, stockpiling, and
transportation (hauling), those activities are mentioned in the Rules' collective definitions for "affected land,"
life of the mine," and "mining operation" (see Rules 1. 1(3), (22), and (27), respectively). These activities are
considered to be proper and necessary to many permitted operations. For example, processing and stockpiling
activities are required to be specified in a permit application or a subsequent revision in order to be allowed in
that operation. These activities are often performed at a site only occasionally, often involving quantities of
material that may take a small operator years to deplete. In those cases, drawing down stockpiles, which
involves sales and hauling from the site, might therefore be among the main ongoing activities occurring at such
a permitted pit.
Operators are required to file annual reports, and to include in those reports information specified on the report
form, pursuant to Rule 1.15(1). Annual report forms have changed through the years, but generally requite that

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