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RE: File # M- 2013 -007 <br />Division of Reclamation, Safety and Mining <br />1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 <br />Denver CO 80203 <br />OPPosiTio.t <br />Lei* v <br />RECEIVED <br />APR 17 2013 <br />to Division of Reclamation, <br />Mining & Safety <br />As Colorado residents since 1994, we believed we'd found the perfect retirement spot — a quiet valley <br />with amazing wildlife, 350 degree views of surrounding mountains, no road or city noise — total solitude, <br />as our street address indicates. <br />Now we are told we will be experiencing an invasion of this solitude due to a gravel strip mining <br />operation application that is within a mile of another gravel operation and 15 miles with 14 other pits. <br />(www.montrosecounty.net — Master Plan Maps) The designated gravel mine location is labeled <br />Agricultural /Rural Residential, also on the master plan. <br />As believers in the entrepreneurial society in which we live, we do question why a gravel strip mine <br />would be allowed to interfere with a location that has been labeled "Mule Deer Critical Winter Range" <br />and "Elk Winter Concentration Area" (Montrose County Master Plan Wildlife Map) and also lies within <br />the historic habitat of the recently highlighted Gunnison Sage - grouse. <br />In addition to affecting the wildlife, why would the state allow a mesa, which can be seen from U.S. <br />Hwy. 550 beginning at the Montrose city limits and viewed to the Montrose /Ouray County border, be <br />made into a commercial eye -sore when one of the most economic draws is state tourism. The drive <br />from Montrose to Ouray is one of the most beautiful in Colorado. <br />Not only will landscape views be affected, but tourists will have to deal with gravel trucks exiting and <br />entering the operation at County Road T on Hwy. 550 — an estimated 200 trucks daily. How will this <br />impact tourist travel? How will this affect the road condition of Hwy. 550? Will road repairs increase? <br />Who pays? <br />The winds across Duckett Draw and up over the mesa (proposed mining area) can be very forceful. How <br />will the state enforce dust control when even the dust of nature can make Hwy. 550 cloudy? The <br />application makes comment that there should be limited dust impact and indicates the Air Quality <br />Control Division of the CDPHE regulates this impact. How often will this be inspected? <br />Finally, we are in a drought and water rights have already been cut — water used to grow crops and feed <br />animals for nutrition. How can the state justify using water for dust control, concrete batching, asphalt <br />operation and crushing and screening gravel? Once again, who oversees the amount of gallons used for <br />this operation and how much water do these other 14 gravel mines use? A gravel operation at this time <br />and in this location certainly seems redundant! <br />A gravel mine situated within established residential communities highlights a selfish interest of a few <br />while affecting many! We question this application and oppose such a development in this location. <br />Sincerely, <br />Keith and Sharon Rasmussen, 20828 Solitude Road, Montrose, CO 81403, 970 - 240 -1699 <br />CC: Montrose County <br />��e <br />