Hygiene Community opposes Martin Marietta's Mining operation

There are many who cherish the agricultural open space and recreational opportunities of Hygiene & Lyons.  Martin Marietta Materials proposes to commence an intensive 10 year surface mining operation on 492 acres of the geologically unique St. Vrain Valley.  The Special Use permit for this operation was issued two decades ago in 1997-8.  To residents and many cyclists and visitors of this area, the mining activity poses a host of negative impacts, including but not limited to air quality and health (fugitive dust events that may contain a deadly dust crystalline silica), traffic conditions and noise pollution. The existing permit allows 200-240 truck daily trips between 8:00 AM-6:00 PM–that is one truck entering or leaving the plant's entrance on Rt 66 every three minutes, and three train trips a day, up to 35 railcars per trip through Hygiene and Longmont railways.  This proposed intensive mining project profoundly affects Hygiene, Lyons and Longmont areas– Hence, concerned citizens of these communities petition Boulder County Commissioners to:

A. Martin Marietta apply for a new mining permit subject to 2017 requirements and in compliance with current policies.

B. Hold Martin Marietta accountable to the 1998 County Commissioners' mandate that a Community Advisory Committee be established to provide feedback to the mining company, the Land Use Department, and the Board of County Commissioners;

Furthermore, the community petitions that:

C. A current bird study be conducted (We are especially concerned with nesting Hygiene Bald eagles and historic habitat for Blue Herons on Crane Hallow Road–In his 1911 monograph on birds of Boulder County, University of Colorado museum curator, Junius Henderson, characterized great blue herons as "common summer residents...[and noted that] the St. Vrain colony near Hygiene is well known."  Other bird habitat may potentially be destroyed or damaged);

D. CDOT conduct a traffic study for the affected regions Lyons, Longmont and Hygiene;

E. Martin Marietta conduct a baseline water-table study (many in the area depend on well water exclusively for household and agricultural needs. Also of notable concern is the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed as a "threatened" species under the federal Endangered Species Act on May 13, 1998 and is found in thick vegetation within stream corridors, adjacent uplands, and along ditches in the St Vrain valley. 

F. Martin Marietta submit an Environmental Impact Study that fully analyses the impacts of its mining plans in the region as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA)–prior to commencing structural buildings and subjecting residents, visitors, and wildlife to further disruption.