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<br />11 <br /> <br />drilled within the applicant's existing coal leasehold and mining permit area, on Federal <br />(USFS) and private lands. The total aggregate surface disturbance was approved to be <br />approximately 80 acres within an approximate 6-square mile area. A Federal <br />Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was prepared for the project, titled "The Deer <br />Creek Shaft and E Seam Methane Drainage Wells Project". The applicant substituted <br />PR-14 for a proposed drilling project previously submitted to the Division as Technical <br />Revision 112. A decision to approve PR-14 was proposed on October 10, 2008, and <br />issued on November 14, 2008. <br /> <br />MCC submitted an application for permit renewal, RN-06, on January 20, 2011, and the <br />application was deemed complete for the purposes of filing on January 21, 2011. The <br />Division conducted a preliminary adequacy review of the RN-06 application and <br />submitted comments to the applicant in a letter dated March 18, 2011. Most of the <br />Division’s comments related to updating information in the AVS. All concerns noted in <br />the March 18, 2011 letter were resolved by MCC's responses submitted by email on <br />March 25, 2011. During the review of RN-06, the Division updated the reclamation cost <br />estimate for the West Elk Mine. A decision to approve RN-06 was proposed on October <br />17, 2011, and issued on November 28, 2011. <br /> <br />MCC submitted an application for permit renewal, RN-07, on February 1, 2016, and the <br />application was found complete on the same day. The Division conducted a preliminary <br />adequacy review of the RN-07 application and submitted comments to the applicant in a <br />letter dated May 3, 2016. All concerns noted in the May 3, 2016 letter were addressed by <br />MCC's response received by the Division on May 24, 2016. During the review of RN- <br />07, the Division initiated an update of the reclamation cost estimate for the West Elk <br />Mine. An important component of the revised cost estimate is a complete and accurate <br />inventory of holes drilled by the operator, which continues to be under review by the <br />Division as of the date of these findings. As of the date of these findings, the decision <br />due remains in administrative extension in order to allow for the compilation of the <br />necessary information, and is currently set at August 31, 2018. <br /> <br />Since the publication of the RN-06 findings document, 18 Technical Revisions (TR), 45 Minor <br />Revisions (MR), and 6 Surety Releases (SL) have been submitted to the Division. Details of <br />these actions are summarized in Table 3, initially by revision type, then in the order of <br />submission: <br /> <br />Table 3: Permitting history since RN-06 <br />Revision Brief description Approval date <br />TR-128 Repairs of the ST-2 Pad slump and the slide below the RPEE haul <br />road <br />5/31/2013 <br />TR-129 Revised Longwall Panel E4 MDW Road and Pad Location 7/11/2012 <br />TR-130 Revised Longwall Panel E5 MDW Road and Pad Location 5/14/2013 <br />TR-131 Updated Reclamation Seed Mixes 10/21/2013 <br />TR-132 Revised Longwall Panel E5 MDW Pad and Road Locations 5/14/2014 <br />TR-133 Revised RPEE Designs 8/1/2014 <br />TR-134 Revised Longwall Panel E6 MDW Pad Locations. 7/7/2014 <br />TR-135 Revised Longwall Panel E6 MDW Pad and Road Locations 8/5/2014