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LOUKONEN BROS. <br />STONE COMPANY <br />12993 N. Foothills Hwy. Longmont, CO 80503 <br />Phone: (303) 823-6268 Fax: (303) 823-0843 <br />Date: 12-06-10 <br />Colorado Div. of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />Michael A Cunningham, Inspector <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203-2273 <br />Re: Corrective Action Report - Inspection of 11-16-10 <br />Dear Inspector Cunningham, <br />Please be advised that a containment structure for the fuel storage tank at the Beech Hill <br />quarry was completed with formed and poured concrete on December 2, 2010. See <br />accompanying photos <br />Please find attached the Storm water Discharge Permit. <br />Please permit me the privilege of observation and comment on your observations: <br />Hydrologic Balance - Every nook and cranny in any of the sandstone quarries north of the Town <br />of Lyons catch and hold surface water. Such areas hold water for an indeterminate time <br />depending upon the porosity of the rock layers and evaporation rate. A simple cursory trip <br />through the many quarries will reveal that most of water areas evaporate or filter standing <br />water into the aquifer system that underlies the area. A fair number of inactive stone <br />depressions can be found that hold water on a permanent basis and have become <br />wetland/wildlife resources within the quarries. <br />An educated evaluation of the hydrologic cycle, if viewed beyond some arbitrary, artificial <br />bureaucratic requirements, would recognize an ecological system that is in balance despite the <br />quarrying activities that have existed there over a hundred and fifteen years. It would consider <br />the fact that no live streams originate from the hill top quarry areas but would deduce that <br />underground aquifers that contribute to downstream flows and drinking water are being <br />recharged by water filtered through many layers of sandstone. It would find value in the areas <br />of standing water for wildlife and climate amelioration from evaporation in a very and <br />environment. In short, a logical observation would see a positive, not negative, hydrologic <br />- - -J-balance An-harmony -with--natural=processes-not--conforming--to-the-superior -intelligence -of- <br />government regulations. <br />Revegetation - The inspection report states that the Operator failed to employ weed control <br />methods for the knapweed within the permitted area and to reduce the spread of weeds to <br />nearby areas. The inspection notes do not mention that heavy concentrations of diffuse <br />knapweed occur along every mile of the Stone Canyon road into quarry and in every valley and <br />drainage way in Stone Canyon. Likewise, the knapweed occurs in other quarries surrounding <br />the Beech Hilt quarry and has increased dramatically. Your problem statement is offensively <br />ignorant of the facts and based upon the biased, unsubstantiated presumption that the <br />Operator neither had a plan of control nor made an effort to control the weeds. <br />Weed control has been applied for over five years at the quarry site in all areas accessible to a <br />tractor mounted boom and hand gun sprayer with fifty foot of hose. Applications of Redeem, <br />Curtail, Clarity, Outlaw and Touchdown have been used according to labeled rates and <br />quantities, alone or in various combinations of different tank mixes.