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document are contained within the Regulations. Detailed information about the mining and <br />reclamation operations can be found in the permit application on file at the Division offices, located <br />at 1313 Sherman Street, Room 215, in Denver, Colorado. <br /> <br />The Colowyo Mine is a surface mine which is permitted and operated by the Colowyo Coal <br />Company, LP (Colowyo). The total permit area encompasses 29,075.74 acres. The Colowyo <br />Mine is located approximately 25 miles north of the town of Meeker, CO and 25 miles south of <br />the town of Craig, CO in Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties off of Colorado State Highway 13. <br />The land for which bond release has been requested is owned by Colowyo Coal Company L.P., <br />Buereau of Land Management (BLM) and the State of Colorado. The coal is Federal (BLM) and <br />State owned. Reclamation work for which bond release has been requested was conducted between <br />the calendar year range of 1996 – 2014. <br /> <br />II.PROCEDURES AND SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW PROCESS <br /> <br /> <br />The Colowyo Coal Company (Colowyo) applied for a partial Phase I Bond Release for 189.6 <br />disturbed acres as shown on Exhibit 1 of the SL-08 application. This area is located in Moffat <br />County, Colorado. The bond release areas are located in the Mine’s East Pit, West Pit and South <br />Taylor Pit areas, in portions of Township 3 North, Range 93 West (6th Principal Meridian), <br />Sections 3, 4, 10, 15, and 17. The permit area can be found on the USGS Quadrangle 7.5 <br />Minute Series Maps of Axial and Nine Mile Gap. The permit area and surface ownership can be <br />found on Map 1, and the coal ownership can be found on Map 2 of the Permit Application <br />Package (PAP). <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />The East Pit and West Pit mining sites lie just west of the northward flowing Goodspring (also <br />referred to as Good Spring) Creek, which is paralleled by Colorado Highway 13. The area <br />includes gently sloping uplands and valleys that cut into the upland surface. These valleys are <br />generally narrow, v-shaped, and about 250 to 500 feet deep. Elevations range from <br />approximately 7,650 feet in the upper portion of East Pit reclamation to 6,950 feet near East <br />Taylor Pond. <br /> <br />Mining operations began in 1976 with the East Pit, a multi-seam coal operation that continued to <br />move in a southerly direction. Eight coal seams (Y, X, A, B, C, D, E, F) were mined from the <br />East Pit, ranging in thickness from two to fifteen feet. The East Pit is nearly 6,000 feet from east <br />to west (width), 1,000 feet in breadth (highwall to highwall), and 450 feet deep. Due to the <br />number of coal seams, immense size of the pit, and manpower and equipment employed, pit <br />progression was slow, with additional disturbances of approximately 40 to 50 acres per year. <br />Extraction of coal from the East Pit was terminated in 2006. Currently the only ongoing <br />operation in the East Pit is reclamation of the final cut, including backfilling and grading of the <br />pit and highwall reduction. <br /> <br />The West Pit is located to the west of the East Pit. The method of operation utilized in, and the <br /> <br />Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance January 2016 <br />Partial Phase I Bond Release SL-08 Page 2 <br /> <br />