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September 5, 2008 Page 2 <br />on or after January 1, 1981 were intended to benefit from the grandfather provision in Senate <br />Bill 120 of 1989. <br />For instance, the final Revised Fiscal Note prepared for the General Assembly regarding <br />Senate Bill 120 of 1989 assumed that the grandfather provision "would exempt only those pits <br />which were mined before January 1, 1981 and which have remained inactive since that date: if <br />they were continuously mined or reactivated they would be required to apply for a well permit, <br />apply for approval of a substitute water plan, and pay plan fees prior to July 15, 1990." This <br />fiscal note is supported by other legislative history that confirms that the grandfather provision <br />was intended to apply only to sand and gravel pits that were abandoned for mining purposes <br />prior to January 1, 1981 and were "closed," "dead," with "no more work being done." <br />Accordingly, I will now require that the owners and operators of sand and gravel pits, <br />which exposed ground water to the atmosphere prior to 1981 and were actively mined on or <br />after January 1, 1981, replace all of their out-of-priority evaporative depletions from the entire <br />surface area of the ground water exposed in the pits. Pre-1981 credits will no longer be allowed <br />for such pits unless previously approved in a water court decree. The Division of Water <br />Resources will also be amending the General Guidelines for Substitute Water Supply Plans for <br />Sand and Gravel Pits Submitted to the State Engineer Pursuant to SB 89-120 & S8 93-260 to <br />reflect the change in administration described above. More specifically, paragraphs 2 and 4 will <br />be revised or deleted, and other provisions may be added to the guidelines to reflect the change <br />in the administration of the affected pits as well as the change in the review and approval of <br />substitute water supply plans. <br />In light of this change of a long-standing administrative practice, owners and operators of <br />the affected pits will have until January 1, 2010 to comply with the replacement requirements <br />described above. I welcome your input on how best to implement this change without <br />unreasonable delay and without undue hardship on the owners and operators of the affected <br />sand and gravel pits. If you have any comments on the implementation of this administrative <br />change that you would like to be considered, please send your comments to the attention of <br />Kevin Rein (email is preferred: kevin.rein@state.co.us ) by Friday, September 26, 2008. After <br />reviewing any such comments, a similar notice of this administrative change will be sent to the <br />entire SWSP notification list for Water Divisions 1 - 7. <br />ely, , <br />Gam, <br />is y oIfe, P. <br />Director/State Engineer <br />DW/jd