An arduous negotiating process may come to an end Thursday when the La Plata County Planning Commission is expected to vote on a recommendation for King II coal mine’s class II land-use permit.
A class II permit authorizes commercial functions, and GCC Energy, which owns the mine in Hesperus, has never had one. Hay Gulch Road, or County Road 120, provides access to King II, and the unpermitted activity, noise and dust has irked residents along the road for years.
“The planning department’s recommendation is for approval,” county planner Dan Murray said. “Right now, there is no limitation for the trucks, which is why we’re trying to get them into compliance as quickly as possible.”
Terms of the agreement will limit the company to 80 trucks per day until the first three phases of road improvements are complete.
“Those cover the most constrained parts of the road and are the highest-priority improvement areas,” Murray said. “Certainly, it (the road) has been the most contentious issue as part of this permit. It’s not that people take issue with the coal mine; it’s the impacts.”
Road improvements include paving and widening at the company’s expense. When all five phases are finished, GCC Energy will be allowed to run 120 trucks daily.
King II opened in 2007 on a 10-year lease as an expansion of King I. It’s on federal land, so the county at the time reasoned King II did not need a class II permit, but reversed that decision when GCC announced expansion plans again in 2012.
The mine employs about 120 and produces just under 1 million tons of bituminous coal each year.
The permit issue has drawn mixed but consistently emphatic reactions from County Road 120 residents, the general public, local business owners, economic leaders and those directly employed by GCC.
“I am a long-term resident of Durango, I am a small builder and I am familiar with many of the code requirements we all agree to abide by,” James Sims wrote to the commission in March. “I find it amazing that GCC has been allowed to back slide (sic) as they have when it comes to mitigating problems obvious to anyone, never mind code requirements. I found it disconcerting that GCC would ask employees to make a showing, fearing their jobs were in danger due to a heartless ruling by the government and ‘new comers (sic).’”
Others say the county has deliberately stalled the process to backhandedly close the mine, which would cost jobs as well as thwart the King II coal-powered Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and therefore ,the economy.
“Our economy is very unstable as it is and if we lose the coal mine it will be even worse,” Savannah Baird wrote to the county in March. “People come to Durango for the train. They visit all of the shops downtown while waiting for the train. It will also affect Silverton and its economy. Not only does this affect our economy but it will effect (sic) some people’s ability to heat their homes.”
The planning commission has delayed a decision four times since November 2014. If it makes a recommendation Thursday, it will go to the La Plata County Board of County Commissioners, which will make the final decision.
jpace@durangoherald.com
If you go
The La Plata County Planning Commission will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the county administration building board room, 1101 East Second Ave.
The board is expected to vote on a recommendation to grant a land-use permit to King II coal mine.
