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STATE OF COLORADO <br />DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman St., Room 215 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866-3567 <br />FAX: (303) 832-8106 <br />COLORADO <br />D I V I S I ON OF <br />RECLAMATION <br />MINING <br />SAFETY <br /> Bill Ritter, Jr. <br />May 18, 2010 Governor <br /> James B. Martin <br /> Executive Director <br />Ms. JoEllen Turner <br /> <br />Mr <br />Michael Mor <br />an Loretta E. Pineda <br />. <br />g Director <br />Box 346 <br />Nucla, CO 81424 <br />Re: Complaints - Western Fuels - Colorado - New Horizon Mine - C-1981-008 <br />Dear Ms. Turner and Mr. Morgan: <br />We have reviewed your correspondence materials received and/or dated April 15, April 29 (2 total), May 5 <br />(5 total), May 6 (2 total), May 8, and May 10 (2 total), 2010. Your notes and letters indicate numerous <br />concerns regarding the permitting history and ground operations at the Western Fuels - Colorado (WFC), <br />New Horizon Mine, in Nucla Colorado. We understand that you are representing the Morgan Property <br />landowners, and that the subject property lies within the WFC permit area. Your concerns include <br />disagreement regarding previous permitting actions, assertions that public access procedures were not <br />followed during permitting actions, that DRMS staff members have not been truthful in their <br />implementation of regulatory duties and that prime farmland resources have not been properly managed <br />at the New Horizon Mine. <br />We have conducted a detailed review of the permitting history for the New Horizon Mine, and additional <br />review may yet be needed. Your concerns regarding prime farmland are valid, and we share many of your <br />concerns. Earlier today, DRMS sent a letter to Western Fuels - Colorado regarding these ongoing issues. <br />Although, DRMS does not agree with some of the details of your assertions, we do agree that many issues <br />must be resolved as indicated in the letter to WFC of today. We formally copied you and the Office of <br />Surface Mining on the letter from DRMS to WFC, and a copy of the letter is included with this <br />correspondence. You will see in the letter that many of your concerns are addressed, in addition to others <br />that originate with our regulatory process. We are directing WFC to work with the Morgan Property <br />landowners to address those unresolved issues that involve both regulatory compliance and landowner <br />coordination. <br />We have also conducted several and repeat inspections to verify previous findings related to your <br />complaints. Although we found that field operations did comply with the permit, you will note that we <br />acknowledge permitting defects in the letter to WFC, and these are being pursued as also noted in the <br />letter to WFC. We chose not to have you accompany our inspectors due to the apparently elevated level of <br />conflict that exists between you and the WFC. We hope that this situation will resolve and that productive <br />communication may occur between the Morgan Property representatives and WFC. <br />Office of Office of <br />Mined Land Reclamation Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines