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Summary <br />Permit C- 1981 -018 <br />Western Fuels -Utah, Inc. submitted an application for a new permit on March 12, 1980. The <br />Division (then called the Mined Land Reclamation Division) issued permit C -81 -018 on July 27, <br />1981. <br />Transfer of Ownership <br />On May 28, 1997 the Division approved a transfer of ownership of the Deserado Mine from <br />Western Fuels -Utah, Inc. to Blue Mountain Energy, Inc. <br />Hi story <br />The Deserado Mine is an active underground mine operation presently located in Rio Blanco <br />County, approximately nine miles northeast of Rangely, Colorado along County Road 65 near <br />Kenney Reservoir. The initial Division permit for the operation was issued to Western Fuels - <br />Utah, Inc., (former operator) on July 27, 1981. Facilities construction and underground <br />development were initiated shortly thereafter. <br />Mining operations during previous permit terms have utilized long wall extraction and room and <br />pillar techniques to extract coal from the "D" Seam. "D" Seam mining within the permit area <br />was completed in 1999, with operations shifting to the underlying "B" Seam, beginning with <br />development mining in 1998/1999, and initiation of longwall extraction in early 2000. Mining <br />operations and schedules were substantially altered by a mine fire in Longwall Panel 9, in the <br />northeast portion of the permit area, in January 1996. The entire "D" seam longwall mining <br />district in the northern portion of the permit area was eventually sealed off, and the longwall <br />equipment was not recovered. <br />The Deserado Permit was previously renewed in June 2009. Operational status was most <br />recently reviewed and summarized by the Division in Permit Revision 08, which obtained Final <br />Approval on August 5, 2013. With the final approval of Permit Revision PR -08 on August 5, <br />2013, a portion of the Deserado Mine's permit area additionally exists within Moffat County. <br />Description of the Environment <br />Elevations at the Deserado mine site range between 5,300 and 5,900 feet above sea level. The <br />permit area and adjacent areas are characterized by gently rolling to moderately steep landforms. <br />Slopes range from 0 to 6 percent in the valleys and level uplands and up to 50 percent on <br />drainage side slopes. The area is semi -arid and characterized by light rainfall, low relative <br />humidity, and moderate winds. Mean annual precipitation is 9 to 10 inches, with peaks in spring <br />and late summer /early fall. <br />The mine is located in the White River Basin, which is the eastern portion of the larger Uinta <br />Basin. The mine lies within the interbedded sandstone and siltstone strata of the Mesaverde <br />