The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
by Olivia Lueckemeyer
BOCC opposes request for royalty rate reduction
In a letter to governor John W. Hickenlooper dated February 16, the Board of County Commissioners requested that an application for a royalty rate reduction for the Elk Creek Mine be opposed. In 2012, Oxbow Mining, LLC submitted an application to the Bureau of Land Management requesting a royalty rate reduction from 8 percent to 5 percent based on adverse geologic and engineering conditions. Last December the BLM proposed approval of the reduction to Governor Hickenlooper and requested comment from his office.
The BOCC contends that, since mining activity at this location has been idled since 2013 due to a fire, the application is untimely and therefore no longer relevant. County manager Matthew Birnie explained that the BLM’s proposed royalty rate reduction is “peculiar, given that Oxbow stopped producing coal in 2013 and this would be retroactive.”
