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II. The Review Process <br />Western Fuels - Colorado, a Limited Liability Company (WFC), purchased the Nucla and Nucla <br />East Mines from Peabody Coal Company (Peabody) and renamed them the New Horizon Mine <br />(Mine 1 and Mine 2, respectively). The mine is located in western Montrose County, <br />approximately 1 mile west of the town of Nucla. <br />The original application for Permit No. C- 1981 -008 was submitted by Peabody on January 9, <br />1981 and was approved by the Division on April 14, 1983. The Nucla Mine covered 393 acres. <br />The permit was subsequently renewed (RN -1) for a second five -year term by the Division in <br />May of 1988. <br />On April 29, 1988, Peabody submitted an application for Permit Revision No. 2 (PR -2) to add <br />approximately 220 acres to the permit, creating the geographically separate Nucla East Mine <br />immediately west of the Town of Nucla (now known as New Horizon Mine 2). This revision <br />was approved on February 28, 1989. <br />On September 12, 1989, Peabody filed notice of temporary cessation. The mine stayed in <br />temporary cessation until 1992, when WFC applied for a permit transfer. <br />On March 29, 1992, an application was submitted to transfer the permit from Peabody Coal <br />Company to Western Fuels- Colorado, LLC. The transfer of ownership and succession of <br />operator (SO -1) was completed on May 15, 1992. <br />On April 26, 1993, the Division approved an additional five -year renewal (RN -2) for Western <br />Fuels- Colorado with a stipulation requiring that a permit revision be submitted to separate the <br />permit application into two separate documents since the two mines were not contiguous. The <br />stipulation was satisfied with the submission of PR -3 which was approved on June 1, 1994. <br />On April 22, 1996, the Division received an application for a permit revision (PR -4) to add an <br />additional 100.7 acres to the New Horizon Mine 2 (formerly Nucla East) permit area. Adequacy <br />issues were resolved on September 24, 1996, and the revision was approved and became final on <br />December 9, 1996. <br />On September 26, 1997, the Division received an application to renew a valid existing permit to <br />conduct coal mining in Colorado. All issues addressed in the adequacy reviews were resolved <br />and the permit renewal (RN -3) became final on April 26, 1998. <br />On September 14, 1999, the Division received an application for a permit revision (PR -5) to add <br />an additional 476.9 acres to the New Horizon Mine 2 permit area. The expanded acreage <br />included properties north of BB Road and west of 2700 Road. Final adequacy issues were <br />resolved on April 14, 2000, and the proposed decision for approval was issued on April 24, 2000. <br />On September 27, 2002, the Division received an application to renew a valid existing permit to <br />conduct coal mining operations in Colorado (RN -4). The application was found to be complete <br />on November 25, 2002. Adequacy issues were resolved on March 21, 2003 and the permit <br />F1 <br />