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AIJG.-'7 198 7.41AM DMG,GJCT 1 303 24103?6 ='.3 <br /> / -l-��Q <br /> Reclaiming Coal Basin a massive undertaking <br /> Coal basil at the wash plant, as well as the Lamp House about <br /> Gantinued fivm pagr 1 two miles above the wash plant where miners his- <br /> mrically suited up for their mine shift and ate their <br /> an obliquc•angle that will arrest erosion into, Coal meals. <br /> Creek, which nuns at the base of the pile. Dob Delany, president of Mid Continent, has <br /> The pile has been a bone of contention for the said he and his partners intend to develop the Lamp <br /> Crystal Valley Euvitomnental Association, a group House for recreational uses. <br /> of Crystal River Valley residents who have strongly <br /> opposed Mid-CAintinctiCs extractive practices <br /> They contend the pile has washed salt, silt and <br /> toxic minerals into Coal Basin and the Crystal River, seriously compromising the fisheries in both 'We're pleased you,J_ <br /> drainages. <br /> Renner argued the major problem of contamma. addressing the problem of the <br /> tion is salt. "There arc no heavy metals:Cyanide <br /> was not used.The most scriuus problem is emsion tailings pile ... /t is a senous <br /> and sediment in the creeks." <br /> "We're pleased you're addressing rite problem of flood and pollution hazard.it <br /> the tailings pile...It is a serious flood and pollution - Mike Meehall, C1(EPA , <br /> Word," said Mike Mechau,a CVEPA member. <br /> Pan of the clean-up at the wash plant is removing <br /> the Dutch Creek flume that dumps into Coal Basin <br /> on the west side of the tailings pile A 60-to 80-foot <br /> diversion channel will be constructed to provide Out of the courtroom and back on the ground,the <br /> Dutch Creek with enough capacity to handle even most difficult part of the reclamation job, Renner <br /> spring ntnnff. said,is cutting hack and revegetating the steep shale <br /> One metal building remains at the wash plant.It slopes. Looking up into the basin, the coal roads <br /> Crgurca in a lawsuit brought by Mid-Continent stand out in sharp contrast, cutting through the pre- <br /> against DGM in au effort to halt further reclamation. cipitous slopes. <br /> The suit, filed in Pitkin County District Court Aug. Renner s approach to revegetating the;.e. steer, <br /> 13, seeks a restraining order to lualt reclamation slippery slopes is nothing if not innovative. Stand. <br /> work. itng at the brink of one such slope which phrneed a <br /> It also asks that property recently purchaux! by dizzyingly 300 feet into a gully, he explained his <br /> Midcon Realty LLC not be reclaimed. Midcun technique. Modifying a roller used to road paving <br /> Realty is limitod liability company newly firmed by jobs, he refitted it and rolled it down the slope to <br /> Mid-Continent owners. The company recently churn up the soil,giving the grass seed spots where <br /> bought 265 acres at the wash plait and farther up the it could land and gain purchase. As proof he. point- <br /> basin.Thanks to a series of land exchanges, almost ed to the slender bunch grasses clinging prccarious- <br /> 6,000 acres formerly owned by Mid-Continent in ly to the bluff. <br /> the basin is now Public land under the ownership of Renner has at least another year until his work is <br /> the U.S.Forest Service. finished. <br /> Part of thc: lawsuit focuses on the metal building "It's not an easy job," he said. <br /> t <br />