2010-11-05_ENFORCEMENT - M2000149

• Permit No: M2000149
• IBM Index Class Name: ENFORCEMENT
• Doc Date: 11/5/2010
• Doc Name: Rtn. Mail- RTB Ltr.
• From: DRMS
• To: Brian Barton
• Email Name: ECS
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

STATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
October 15, 2010
COLORADO
D I V I S ION OF
RECLAMATION
MINING
SAFETY
Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor
Mike King
Executive Director
Mr. Brian Barton Loretta Pirieda
1957 County Road 57 Director
Sterling, CO 80751
RE: Reason to Believe a Violation Exists at the Barton Pit; DMG File # M-2000-149
Mr. Barton:
On July 6, 2009 the Mined Land Reclamation Board found a violation against Barton Pit M2000-149. Paragraph 3 of the
Board Order issued on that date required the submittal of a technical revision JR) to address the changes to the mining
plan that have been implemented on-site. The operator submitted a TR attempting to address the changes to the mining
and reclamation plan for the site, along with the required fee, to the Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety on
August 11, 2010; however, adequacy issues were present in the revision that needed to be addressed before the revision
could be approved.
DRMS sent an adequacy review to the operator on August 18, 2010 summarizing the issues that needed clarification and
items that required additional information. This adequacy letter also made it very clear that the decision date for the
revision was September 10, 2010. On several occasions DRMS also made contact with the operator to make him aware of
the deadline, and to attempt to provide some guidance in resolving these remaining issues.
On 8:48 PM on September 9, 2010 (the night before the decision date) an e-mail was received by DRMS containing
grossly insufficient responses to the remaining adequacy issues. Another letter was mailed via certified mail to the
operator restating the remaining issues to be resolved, and the deadline for compliance was extended one last time to
October 13, 2010. The letter was signed for on September 23, 2010; however, no response has been received by DRMS
to date.
The extended decision date for the Technical Revision has elapsed, and no sufficient response has been given for the
remaining adequacy issues, therefore, the Technical Revision as submitted is not approvable by DRMS. Therefore, we
have reason to believe that the July 6, 2010 MLRB Order for MV 2010-013 has not been complied with, and have
scheduled this matter to appear before the Mined Land Reclamation Board.
A Formal Public Hearing will be held during the November 171h and 18th, 2010 Board Meeting for consideration of a
possible violation. The hearing will be held in Room 318 of 1313 Sherman Street, Denver, Colorado, beginning at 9:00
a.m. on November 17th or as soon thereafter as the matter can be considered. At that hearing you will have the
opportunity to be represented and heard. It will be reiterated that there is reason to believe that you are in violation of the
provisions noted above.
If the Board finds a violation at this hearing, it may issue a Cease and Desist Order and/or assess a Civil Penalty in the
amount of $ 100.00 to $1,000.00 for each day of violation. If you have evidence indicating that the possible violations
noted above do not exist or have been corrected, please provide it to us as soon as possible or bring it to the hearing.
Following the hearing, all parties have an opportunity to review and comment on a draft of the Board's order before it
becomes final. If you wish to do so, you must provide the Board with a written request to review the draft order prior to
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Mined Land Reclamation Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines