2010-12-13_PERMIT FILE - M2010049 (3)

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Varra Companies, Inc. Office of Special Projects 8120 Gaee Street Frederick Colorado 80516 Telephone (970) 353-8310 Fax(970)353-4047 D will have their soil stripped and placed in an over the shoulder manner on formerly disturbed ground where soil being absent is not required to be replace. Regardless, the six inches planned for all finished basin perimeters is generally adequate to achieve the stabilization of the area from planned revegetation. The history of the Office of Mined Land Reclamation is replete with released operations where six inches of soil was applied for purposes of achieving stability. Since the lands will not be returned to agricultural production, and the purposes of the operation for profit must be in balance with the capacity to achieve reclamation, the operator maintains that a six inches remains an adequate compromise when considering the pre-mine state of the lands and the geomorphic limits to insitu soils from which salvage must take place. Finally, it should be remembered that the Act calls for the return of topsoil, which is limited to the A-1 horizon or plow layer of the soil profile. The Act does not compel a return of the soil profile, nor would it be prudent to return some aspects of a developed soil profile, which in this instance is essentially absent for all practical purposes. A return of six inches of soil is consistent with the `topsoil' requirements of the Act. 18. The applicant states in Exhibit G - Water Information, that the pits will be lined upon the completion of mining. However, the Reclamation Plan does not provide any details about lining the reservoirs. Please clarify if the reservoirs will be lined or unlined. If they are to be lined, then please provide the Division with design specifications and detailed plan for lining the reservoirs. Since the applicant is blessed with waters sufficient to create unlined basins, for purposes of this submittal, the applicant desires to maintain the option of lining extracted basins to liberate water for other purposes than augmentation. Since this is a method reserved for consideration under a subsequent Technical Revision with the Office, we respectfully request the specifics of construction be addressed at that time, since it does not bear upon current financial or permit performance considerations under the present plan of operations. Varra Companies, Inc. correspondence to the Colorado Office of Mined Land Reclamation (OMLR) 10 in reply to OMLR correspondence of 4 October 2010 - Western Sugar Reclamation Land Development Project - M-2010-049.