2009-11-09_REVISION - M1998022

• Permit No: M1998022
• IBM Index Class Name: REVISION
• Doc Date: 11/9/2009
• Doc Name: Objection comments receipt
• From: DRMS
• To: H. Lee and Melissa Bower
• Type & Sequence: CN1
• Email Name: GRM
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

STATE OF COLORADO
DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman St., Room 215
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
November 9, 2009
H. Lee and Melissa Bower
4335 County Road 3
Marble, Colorado 81623
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COLORADO
DIVISION OF
RECLAMATION
MINING
SAFETY
Bill Ritter, Jr.
Governor
Harris D. Sherman
Executive Director
Ronald W. Cattany
Division Director
Natural Resource Trustee
Re: Conger Harvest Area, Permit No. M-1998-022, Conversion, CN-01, Objection Comments Receipt.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bower,
The Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety (DRMS) has received your comments of objection for the
conversion of the Conger 110c permit to a 112c permit. Your comments were received by the Division
on November 2, 2009 and considered timely. Please find enclosed a copy of "Guide to Citizen
Participation in the 112 Reclamation Permit Application Process". Please read the guide carefully as it
explains the application process, your rights, and responsibilities as a party in the process. A permit
application that receives an objection must be heard before the Mined Land Reclamation Board (MLRB).
As an objector you or your legal proxy must attend in person a Pre-hearing Conference 10 days before
the Board Hearing and the hearing itself. Currently by Rule the Pre-hearing Conference would have to
be sometime on or before December 28, 2009 in Glenwood or Carbondale and the Formal Public
Hearing would be held on January 6, 2010 in Denver.
Your letter notes the basis of your objection is contained in a copy of a letter to the U.S. Forest Service
dated March 14, 2009. Careful review of that letter notes objection to the Environmental Assessment
(EA) done as part of the Forest Service process. Please note that an EA is not required as part of the
DRMS reclamation permit review process. The EA was reviewed by the Forest Service and all issues
were fully vetted prior to their approval of the project. Issues noted regardless appear to extend to land
use, visual or economic impacts, noise, traffic, dust or other nuisances, or socioeconomic impacts.
These issues are the jurisdiction of local government and not the Mined Land Reclamation Board's.
The only issue raised which appears to be within the Board's jurisdiction is in regard to impacts to
wildlife. Please note that as part of the Division's process, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) is
notified upon submittal of an application. CDOW submitted no comments either pro or con regarding
the project. Wildlife impacts were also part of the EA under the Biological Assessment which found no
impacts to wildlife with the exception of elk calving. Operational restrictions were imposed by the
Forest Service to nullify those impacts and accepted by the applicant. Per the Act and Rules for DRMS
this is an acceptable mediation of the impacts noted.
Office of Office of
Mined Land Reclamation Denver • Grand Junction • Durango Active and Inactive Mines