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Residents seek resolution to coal mine woes

King Coal II management meeting with neighbors
A King II Coal Mine truck raises dust on County Road 120 south of Hesperus in March. Neighbors plan to make recommendations to the mine management about better management of truck traffic in June. A advisory panel formed by neighbors has been meeting with GCC Energy management since December.

Neighbors of a coal mine southwest of Hesperus have formed an advisory panel, and have been working for months to tackle concerns raised by the mine’s truck traffic and water consumption.

The neighbors have been meeting privately with GCC Energy since December, and they hope to settle on solutions to help address traffic problems in June, said Tim Gallagher the advisory panel’s chairman.

Trucks for the King II Coal Mine make at least 240 trips a day along County Road 120, and truck drivers have been known to run other vehicles off the road, said Jean Graham, a neighbor and member of the panel. The trucks create an unhealthy level of noise, she said.

Roadrunner Engineering is working on a traffic study to shed light on possible alternatives to better manage traffic, and the study also is near completion, Gallagher said.

Some residents would like to see the company build a dedicated haul road or a conveyor belt that would eliminate trucks on the narrow county roads entirely. But both options would likely be expensive for the company, Gallagher said.

He is hoping to present traffic recommendations the company might accept. But they have not been completed.

Neighbors also would like to reach resolution on noise from trucks, which can reach 82 decibels, Gallagher said. This is equivalent to the sound of a freight train passing 50 feet away. It is also well above the standard of about 70 decibels for industrial zones, he said.

Another concern for the neighbors is the mine’s water consumption. The panel met with company management Friday, for a presentation about the mine’s water rights and usage. The Durango Herald was not permitted to attend the meeting.

But Gallagher said the neighbors felt good about the information they received.

The neighbors were presented with data that showed about 98.6 percent of the water piped into the mine for dust-suppression purposes leaves the mine, he said. So a relatively low percentage of water is left to leach through the soil below the mine.

The mine uses about 1 million gallons a month provided by ditch rights and water trucks from Durango, Graham said.

The neighbors have formed a subcommittee to study water as well, and Gallagher remains optimistic about the discussions.

“We still want some more answers, but we’re feeling a lot better about things,” he said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com



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