Thanks to the dutiful efforts of several citizens concerned that no public comment period had been offered in advance of granting a storm water permit to ORC for mining operations any permit will be withheld. Spoke with Vaughn Balzer at DOGAMI who confirmed the public would be properly notified, given time to review materials and then comment before a storm water permit is granted to ORC along the haul roads of their proposed mining operations.

Balzer has indicated he will make materials available at the local DEQ office in Coos County. Comment period is not open ended, obviously but this is a great opportunity to put some brakes on what appears to be a runaway train.

Julie Jones a member of Bandon Woodlands Community Association a group dedicated to maintaining the quality of life in the woodland environment now being threatened by proposed chromite strip mining was instrumental in this action. Jones and BWCA have been tracking the ORC permitting process from the beginning and knew they should have been notified of a public comment period for the storm water permits but were not. Jones persisted and DOGAMI will now establish a public comment period before any permit is granted.

DOGAMI works under a Memorandum of Agreement with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and will be monitoring the treatment of water runoffs in the mining process that have the potential to damage fragile wetlands and woodland streams. Thanks to Julie Jones for her persistence