2012-05-29_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C2010089

Home Browse Search

May 20 2012 The Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety Room 215 Centennial Building 1313 Sherman Street Gentlemen, Re Ce ` vel0 MM 2Q ?012 we1 ation , Div►�I` " Safety Minin and I am writing to you in hopes that the decision to approve the application submitted by Western Fuels - Colorado,LLC, for the coal mining permit, C- 2010 -089 will not meet opposition in our area. I have worked in the Mining industry for 32 years. My last 20 years have been with Western Fuels. I became an employee of Western Fuels in 1993. I moved to Nucla, Colorado from Fruita Colorado to accept the job that Western Fuels had offered me. I have worked for Silver Mines, Gold Mines, Oil Shale Mines and other Coal Mines before I became an employee of Western Fuels. Economics have always been the demise of mining and my hopes were that this job would last 2 years so my youngest son could graduate from high school without another move. Twenty years later I am still in Nucla and I am so grateful for the longevity of the job. It has given me a future I was so uncertain of before. Since starting with Western Fuels 20 years ago, I have in place a pension plan, a match in my 401K, medical insurance, and a wage that has allowed actual vacations instead of a re- location. It has been a wonderful job to have in my last years in the work force. They have made retirement a reality for so many of us. I have read the protest letter from Jo Ellen Turner. There are 2 others that I know of but do not know the people as I do not think they are part of this community. I have tried to look at this with an unbiased opinion . I know that the land will be far better when we are done, the coal royalties have paid farmers more than crop sales would have made them for several generations. Through coal royalties farmers have been able to purchase new tractors, homes, and equipment in general that they would have never been able to afford otherwise. The benefit of Western Fuels mining their property has been immense. Last but not least, every square foot of the land will be farmable instead of sections here and there. The shelf rock gone, the bogs dried up, the boulders that they could not remove with tractors are buried deep, the top soil spread equally, the rocks picked, and a plow that they can sink as far as possible without an obstacle to stop them. I do not know what you can protest about this outcome. I do know that Western Fuels has done everything to abide with the Coal Reclamation Act an will continue to do so.