Laserfiche WebLink
Summary <br />The Review Process <br />In a letter dated October 29, 2013, the Division notified NECC that the Division must receive a <br />complete application for renewal of an existing permit no later than December 24, 2008. On <br />December 19, 2013, the Division received an application from NECC. The application was <br />determined to be complete on December 24, 2013 and appropriate State and Federal agencies <br />were notified of it, with a request for comments to be submitted to the Division within 30 days. <br />The only agency to respond was History Colorado, who confirmed the finding that no historic <br />properties would be affected by RN -06. <br />The reclamation bond is statutorily limited as a result of Surety Release No. 6 (SL -06) and fixed <br />at $72,099.00. This amount is well in excess of an amount necessary to complete any remaining <br />reclamation. Five monitoring wells, mentioned in RN -05, were transferred to the New Elk mine <br />permit (C-1981-012) by C-1981-012, PR -02/C-1981-013 TR -57; which further reduces the <br />reclamation liability at the Golden Eagle mine. All areas have been reclaimed. Should <br />revegetation fail at the 1.2 acre NW -1 ventilation shaft, the bond amount would be sufficient to <br />mitigate the situation. <br />An initial adequacy review letter was sent to NECC on February 21, 2014, a response to which <br />was received on April 21, 2014. The Applicant Violator System was queried on May 30, 2015 <br />for the applicant, New Elk Coal Company, LLC and returned no records of violation. The <br />decision due date was repeatedly extended until the applicant published notice of the permit <br />renewal in the Chronicle News once a week for four weeks, beginning on February 6, 2015 and <br />ending on February 27, 2015. The list of officers and directors was updated to reflect <br />organizational changes. The Applicant Violator System was queried again on May 11, 2015. <br />Three violations issued by the State of West Virginia were linked to NECC through Matthew <br />Goldfarb. The link between Mr Goldfarb and the violator was apparently spurious since Mr <br />Goldfarb had severed ties with the company well before the violations were issued. NECC <br />clarified the issue with the State of West Virginia, before the Applicant Violator System was <br />queried again on June 18, 2015; the system returned a recommendation of issue. <br />Mine History and the Environment <br />The Golden Eagle Mine is located in Las Animas County, Colorado approximately 23 miles west <br />of Trinidad along State Highway 12. The Golden Eagle mine began operations under the name <br />of the Maxwell Mine, originally permitted and operated by Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation <br />(CF&I). In January of 1984, Wyoming Fuels, a KN Energy subsidiary, purchased the mine. In <br />March of 1993, the permittee and operator changed to Basin Resources, Inc., a wholly-owned <br />subsidiary of Entech, Inc., and a subsidiary of Montana Power Company. Due to difficult <br />mining conditions and economic factors, the mine officially shut down operations on December <br />31, 1995. During 1996, all facilities were removed, backfilling and grading was completed, and <br />the disturbed areas were topsoiled, seeded and mulched. In July 2001, the parent company <br />ownership of BRI changed from Entech (Montana Power) to Colorado Westmoreland, Inc. In <br />D <br />