2010-04-23_ENFORCEMENT - C1981008

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TDN Response New Horizon Mine April 23, 2010 Page 2 September 14, 1999 and deemed complete on September 20, 1999. Public notices were published in the San Miguel Forum and the public comment period ended on January 3, 2000. Written comments were received from Robert D. Reeder on November 4, 1999 and Herbert and Nancy Enstrom on December 6, 1999. The Division contacted Mr. Reeder and conducted an inspection with him on November 9, 1999. The Division provided a written response to the Enstroms on December 18, 1999. During the review of PR -5, the Division identified several adequacy issues. WFC responded to the adequacy issues during the application review. (Issues pertaining to the Morgan Property are discussed below under each topic.) A proposed decision to approve PR -5 was issued by the Division on April 24, 2000. Notice of the Division's proposed decision was published April 27 and May 4, 2000 in the San Miguel Forum. No objections were received and the Division deemed the proposed decision final on June 1, 2000. On the Morgan property, the pre- mining land uses and vegetation types are synonymous. As of 1998, they were: Irrigated Pasture - Hayland (50.6 acres), Irrigated Pasture (45.26 acres), Pastureland Irrigated Swale (9.4 acres) and Farmstead (1.62 acres). The approved PR -5 post -mine land uses for the Morgan Property were: Irrigated Pasture and Irrigated Hayland (primarily alfalfa with orchard grass and meadow brome). Western Fuels signed a lease with Frank and Mary Lou Morgan in September 1998. Sometime after signing the lease and prior to the end of 2001, the Morgans upgraded to a sideroll irrigation system on the western portion of their property. Farming operations do not appear to have been interrupted until the summer of 2003, when irrigation water to the easternmost portion of the property (10 to 15 acres) was turned off to facilitate the commencement of topsoil salvage operations later that fall. The active pit first entered Morgan lands in 2004, and continues to progress westward. Backfilling began at the eastern end in the fall of 2004, and 5.8 acres adjacent to 2700 Road were topsoiled in 2006. The currently approved mining plan shows that mining on the Morgan property is expected to be complete in 2012. PRIME FARMLANDS As a preface this section, explanation of the terms "prime farmland" and "prime farmland soils" is warranted. Prime farmland is defined in Rule 1.04(95) as meaning "land which has been historically used for cropland and that, in accordance with 7 C.F.R. 657, has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics of producing food, feed, forage, fiber and oilseed crops, is also available for these uses and as interpreted by the USDA Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resources Conservation Service) for Colorado. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (MRCS) in Colorado has designated particular soil survey map units as prime farmland soils. These soil map units are considered prime farmland by NRCS and under Division rules when certain criteria are met, including historic use as cropland, and existence of an adequate and dependable irrigation water supply. Within the New Horizon permit area, potential prime farmland soil map units are: Barx, Barx scalped, Darvey -Bari, and Begay fine sandy loam. Permit Revision No. 5. In the PR -5 application, (submitted September 14, 1999) an Order 1 soil survey encompassing the lands to be disturbed by the expansion area was conducted in 1998 by