2013-01-24_REVISION - C1981008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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JoEllen Turner Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety 1313 Sherman Street Rom 215 Denver, Colorado 80203 January 32, 2013 970 -864 -7682 p.1 { " , ?: . fy1 n - RECEIVED JAN 242013 Division of Reclamation, Mining & Safety Dear Mr. Berry: This is a request for an informal hearing for Bond release on the Benson properties. The Morgan family owned the property known as Bensons Mountain prior to even Benson owning it. Bode Porter has written several objections to the Benson West property. I has been documented as being anywhere from 27 to 35 feet higher in elevation. It is nothing like it was prior to mining. It had slack dumps, and gravel and now by using the Morgans soils, it is 35 feet higher in elevation than it was originally. The original contour shows a high point on the Benson Mountain, but by using Morgan soils, it is now that elevation completely across. It has been worked and re- worked many times now and planted and re- planted several times now. This property also as the rest of the Benson property was used as a landfill. I do not recall WFC ever obtaining a landfill permit at anytime. The OLD SHOVEL is buried right there on Buds property. The employees as well as friends and neighbors were allowed to come to these properties on weekends and dump TIRES, AIRCONDITIONERS, refrigerators, mattresses, boards, tin, anything that was around their homes that they needed to get rid of, but because of the expense at the landfill, did not want to use the landfill. The tires that lined the original ditch was pushed off into the active pit and buried. Morgan soils were used to reclaim the Benson properties. These soils were prime farm land soils as designated for 40 years by NRCS. This is also a part of an objection to PR -07 that should have never been permitted. It is not up to the landowner to know these rules or regulations. These rules and regulations and the Act were put into law by President Carter in 1977. The State is suppose to maintain and enforce these obligations that are mandated by the Colorado Surface Coal mining Act. These people should have been included in major decisions being made. Your response to that, it was publicized. Well, the publications sometimes were not even at this court house, the publications were so vague at points that no one even knew what they were referring to, not one farmer was ever told that there would be publications in the local papers and that they needed to learn all the rules and regulations governing surface coal mining, this was the STATES job to make sure that the information that was submitted to them was accurate and correct before taking their word on it and just passing anything and everything. Yes, the coal mine as far as jobs and donations is very important to this area. But so are the farmers. These are privately owned farms and ranches that are being mined for this energy source and without them , there would be no coal mine right here. Our production and our jobs are JUST as important.