Laserfiche WebLink
Throughout most of this mine's permitted history, and along with other Cotter - permitted mines in <br />the area, Cotter has resisted the Division's directions and repeatedly challenged regulations and <br />policies intended to protect the environment, water quality and the public from contamination <br />problems associated with uranium mining. Most recently, the Division reiterated the <br />noncompliance of the LP -21 with the Act and Rules on Nov. 9, 2012, and documented its <br />ineligibility for intermittent status. Cotter Corporation filed a Notice of Temporary Cessation for <br />the LP -21 in effect from Dec. 15, 2012. <br />Unfortunately, allowing Cotter Corporation to enter a period of temporary cessation at the LP -21 <br />allows the company, once again, to maintain the status quo by retaining a permit for a non - <br />operating, reclaimed uranium mine. Therefore, we object to the current Notice of Temporary <br />Cessation for the following reasons: <br />1) The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act speaks unambiguously of the production of ore <br />as a requirement for retaining a reclamation permit at C.R.S. § 34- 32- 103(6)(a)(I) by specifically <br />requiring that an operator "engage in the extraction of minerals" in order for a reclamation <br />permit to remain in effect. The only exceptions to this requirement are for a mine to either be in <br />active reclamation or to be in an approved period of temporary cessation, limited to two five -year <br />periods. Neither exception applies to this mine. Because the LP -21 has not "produced" as <br />required by the Act, Cotter is ineligible for an additional five -year period of temporary cessation. <br />2) The LP -21 Mine was in two consecutive periods of temporary cessation that lasted until Dec. <br />5, 1990, when the Division approved a technical revision to change the mine to intermittent <br />status, even though Cotter did not meet the legal requirements of that status, which requires it to <br />continue operating and produce ore on an annual basis. The permit has continued in that <br />unlawful status for an additional 23 years. <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).] Having already spent 10 years with this status at the LP -21, Cotter is not entitled to <br />wipe the slate clean and start again. <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 />