Continue Reading
Subscribe for full unlimited access, log in to your account, or create a free account for complimentary articles.
State Plans To Allow Mining To Continue at Controversial Velarde Site
(SUN file photo) The lease on this controversial Velarde mine has lapsed, and the State Land Office will likely issue Coppola Mining a new one, allowing the company to continue gravel operations. Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons issued Coppola a five-year lease in 2004, saying the lease was necessary to “mine down” a dangerous cliff face left by gravel mining on adjacent private land owned by Española businessman Richard Cook. But Coppola assigned the lease to Cook, Vecinos del Rio community organizer Steven Rudy said — allowing Cook to profit from the damage his mining operations caused to state land. Four years later, the cliff has been transformed into a contoured slope, ready for re-vegetation, according to Assistant Commissioner John Bemis. But the Office should lease the land out for continued mining to help the local economy, Bemis said.
Published: