Every story needs conflict, a worthy or enthusiastic protagonist, and drama to sustain itself.
This story may have been a tasty tidbit for the conspiracy theorists, but lacked a great deal of accuracy in the facts and figures of the real story behind this proposal. The mining claim for the Pike View quarry was first made back in 1906, and it wasn't until the 1970s that the current owners of Castle Concrete inherited the site that sits near the Air Force Academy. Back in the '40s and '50s, when the mine was largely opened up, mining and reclamation were not the two sides of the same coin they are today. The art and sciences of reclamation are greatly advanced from what they once were, when they did not play a large part in the industry or among lawmakers. Consequently, this quarry was sliced in such a way and in such a place as to make reclamation very difficult, if not impossible, in the areas at the north end of the site.