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~~ i~-vY! l ~ ~ i ~~ July 14, 2003 Division ofMinerals and Geology 1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 Denver, CO 80203 RECEIVED l/JUL 2 1 2003 Division of Minerals and GeoloSY Dear Sirs: This is a letter regazding my concerns with the Halderson Sand and Gravel Mine, file #M-2003- 037. Ilive in the subdivision just south of the proposed mine. I also own the farmland and draw to the south ofthe proposed mine. I have lived on Spring Creek Mesa for approximately fifteen years and in this location for six years. I have three concerns. My first concern is regazding the adequacy of the studies of the water table for this mine. As I am sure you know, the water for irrigation in this valley comes through a tunnel from the Gunnison Gorge. The water is "turned on" during the late spring and summer months. It is "turned off' during the winter. I have observed in my own draw and in other draws that the walls of the draws begin to seep water each spring when the irrigation ditches aze turned on. As far as I can tell, the only test drilling for water on this pazcel of land was done in the late spring. This was done after a "hundred-year drought" and was during the driest time of the yeaz. I, therefore, do not feel that the applicant has studied the water table fluctuations and how they will affect the mine and the ground water adequately. I feel that before this proposal is approved, further tests need to be performed throughout the year and certainly during the season of irrigation, in order to ensure that the ground water will not be affected or run into the pit throughout the mining period. I also have great concerns about the reclamation plan. This mine will leave a giant pit in the surface of Spring Creek Mesa forever. If the water table is not understood, how can we expect this land to be reclaimed as crop land? I also feet that the reclamation plan is unrealistic. The current farmer argues that it is hard to make a living as a farmer on this fazm. If it is hazd to make a &ving at this time as a farmer on this farm, flow can we expect a future farmer to keep this land in crop land forever? Calculations would indicate between ten and thirty acres of this land will be on a three-to-0ne slope. There will then be a bottom land that could possibly be a marsh. As this pit will be left forever, I cannot understand how anyone can claim that the land will always be kept in crop land. We, therefore, could and up with a giant scar that is also a location for regrowth and mosquito breeding. My third concern is in regazd to the noise level proposed for the mine. The azea is quickly changing from agricultural to residential There aze several schools and two churches in the azea. There aze over six hundred residents within a mild ofthe proposed nnine. The industrial noise standards that the applicant has applied to meet are not stringent enough for an area such as this,