Laserfiche WebLink
of a mine that effectively shut its doors more than three decades ago. Therefore, we object to the <br />current Notice of Temporary Cessation for the following reasons: <br />1) According to the Division's internal review of Cotter Corporation's annual reports as stated in <br />an Oct. 3, 2012, inspection document, the SR -13A has not produced ore since approximately <br />1980. The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act speaks unambiguously of the production of <br />ore as a requirement for retaining a reclamation permit at C.R.S. § 34- 32- 103(6)(a)(I) by <br />specifically requiring that an operator "engage in the extraction of minerals" in order for a permit <br />to remain in effect. The only exceptions to this requirement are for a mine to either be in full <br />reclamation or to be in an approved period of temporary cessation, limited to two five -year <br />periods. Neither exception applies to this mine. <br />2) Cotter Corporation entered its first period of temporary cessation on Aug. 27, 1980, and <br />renewed this status in 1985. When those two periods of temporary cessation expired, on July 26, <br />1990, Cotter applied for intermittent status, which requires a mine to continue operating, <br />although it is allowed to operate fewer than 180 days per year. Even though its permit <br />languished in an unlawful intermittent status for the next 22 years, Cotter did not meet the <br />requirements of an intermittent operation. According to the annual reports Cotter has filed with <br />the Division since 1980, the SR -13A has not produced ore. In a Jan. 22, 2013, letter to the <br />Division, Cotter contends that the SR -13A was "active" because Cotter continued to conduct <br />regular maintenance and conducted various studies of the mine, yet did not contend that actual <br />mining has occurred. In effect, the SR -13A has been a shuttered, idled mine since at least August <br />1980. <br />3) The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act states unequivocally that a mine must be <br />reclaimed after a decade of inactivity. The law says: "In no case shall temporary cessation of <br />production be continued for more than ten years without terminating the operation and fully <br />complying with the reclamation requirements of this article." [Please see C.R.S. § 34- 32- 103(6) <br />(a)(III).] Because the SR -13A has not "produced" as required by the Act, Cotter is ineligible for <br />an additional five -year period of temporary cessation. <br />4) Denial of the Notice of Temporary Cessation status is consistent with Colorado law and will <br />help bring this mine into prompt compliance once the attached injunction applicable to the <br />Department of Energy lease tracts is lifted. The pending federal court injunction was issued on <br />Oct. 18, 2011, and modified on Feb. 27, 2012, and cannot serve to excuse decades of inactivity <br />and deferred reclamation at this or other uranium mines. <br />The injunction and the attached letter from Department of Justice attorney Marissa Pirapato <br />confirm that Cotter is carrying out maintenance and other activities at these and other federally <br />leased mines. As Judge Martinez recognized, the precise extent of allowable activities at these <br />sites cannot be determined in the abstract. [Please see Injunction at 5 -6.] Instead, the Division <br />and the Board should make their regulatory determinations based on site - specific information <br />and take action consistent with Colorado reclamation laws that prevent such sites from <br />