East Boulder County residents in fight over gravel mining permit

Residents in East Boulder County near Hygiene are gearing up for a fight with the county over a permit that was granted to a gravel mining company 2 decades ago.

The activists say the company, Martin Marietta Materials have let the permit lapse and shouldn’t be allowed keep it under the conditions they were granted it 20 years ago. There will be a hearing on this issue on Wednesday July 25th.

Residents near Hygiene are concerned about what could happen to this pristine part of East Boulder County if a 20 year old mining permit for gravel extraction is reissued by the county. Amanda Dumenigo, who has lived in the area for 7 years, started Save Our St Vrain Valley, you might have seen their yellow signs around this part of the county.

“It’s deep pit gravel mining, it’s approximately 640 acres and the permit was approved twenty years ago.”

Dumenigo says the flood of 2013 significantly changed the topography of the area which has seen more residents moving into the area in the past 20 years. She says that because of the changes in the area over the past few years, and the fact that Martin Marietta have not actively mined in the area, in violation of the permit, means that the county should revoke it.

On Wednesday July 25th at 4pm there will be a public hearing on the Martin Marietta permit, it takes place at the Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder.

Martin Marietta, the company in question in this story is involved in another fight with local activists in Boulder. Anti- fracking activists in Boulder County are being subpoenaed by attorneys for Martin Marietta, in a labor dispute case involving a woman who was fired from her job at the company for a protesting against fracking in her own time.

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