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December 27, 19953r=�° 8�r`�= -+ <br /> DEC 2 9 199 <br /> Valley Journal Division of 14flerdj�, <br /> 36 North 4th Street <br /> Carbondale, CO 81623 <br /> In your last week's Coal Basin article, you say the last major Mid-Con asset to be sold to <br /> produce money for reclamation is the unreclaimed 405 acre parcel in Coal Basin. The <br /> Liquidation Plan confirmed by the court in April, 1994 provides that all Mid-Con <br /> properties are to be sold, including the Rail Loadout sight near Carbondale (valued by <br /> Mid-Con's lawyer at $750,000.00 in early `94), the Coke Oven site near Redstone (valued <br /> at $175,000.00 in `94) and the 5800 high acres in Coal Basin, 1/3 of which has been <br /> traded so far producing $360,000.00 which apparently went to pay back taxes. It would <br /> seem there is substantial (at least $2 million worth) Mid-Con property remaining to be <br /> sold aside from the 405 acres. It does not appear that the Rail Loadout and Coke Oven <br /> properties have been put up for sale in the past 1 2/3 years. I believe the bankruptcy judge <br /> would require all these properties to be sold immediately if some creditor like DMG <br /> (representing the public) would demand it.. <br /> You say that the Liquidation Plan mandates that Mid-Con pay for $3 million worth of <br /> reclamation, some of which has aleady been completed by Mid-Con. The DMG took over <br /> the reclamation in Coal Basin in 1993 because Mid-Con was not doing it. In the <br /> liquidation plan, DMG was to get $2,240,000.00 for reclamation (which was based on the <br /> $3 million but giving Mid-Con some credits for work done and equipment salvage), which <br /> was to be paid DMG out of sales (69%) as they occurred. Over $4 million has been <br /> sold. So far DMG has received $769,000.00 and has spent $500,000.00. Pitkin Iron got <br /> $630,000.00 so far and is claiming $203,000.00 more which DMG disputes. Mid-Con <br /> attorneys, including Delaney and Balcomb, got over $300,000.00 so far, and most of the <br /> rest of the $4 million apparently went to back taxes and the equipment salvager. <br /> In Coal Basin there are large tailing piles which streams are cutting into and over 17 miles <br /> of mining roads cut into steep shale slopes, which are eroding and causing toxins and <br /> large amounts of sediments to flow down the Crystal River. Below Redstone, the <br /> vegetation, insect and aquatic life in the river is virtually nonexistent. Mid-Con has always <br /> had a moral and legal obligation to the public to reclaim its mines. It's been five years <br /> since the mines closed. As indicated by Mid-Con's recent"offer" they have the financial <br /> ability to clean up their mess. The fact that they haven't, and are now seeking to profit <br /> from development in the basin(more construction, more roads, more erosion, more water <br /> pollution), should tell you something about how much they care for the ecologv of our <br /> valley. <br /> om Crumpacker, Redstone <br />