2018-09-04_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1980007

• Permit No: C1980007
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 9/4/2018
• Doc Name: Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance
• From: DRMS
• To: CAM Mining, LLC
• Permit Index Doc Type: Findings
• Email Name: LDS
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

6

Summary

The Review Process

Permit C-1980-007 was issued on July 31, 1981 for an initial five-year term, and since then has
been renewed for six additional five-year terms. Permit Renewal No.7 (RN-7) is under review
by the Division as of the date of these findings. Operations at the West Elk Mine have been
conducted under several different names in the past. Before 1991, the West Elk Mine itself was
known as the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 Mine. Since the mine opened, operations were conducted
under the following names: Anaconda Minerals Company, ARCO Coal Company (a Division of
Atlantic Richfield Company), and West Elk Coal Company, Inc. The name was changed from
West Elk Coal Company, Inc., Mt. Gunnison No. 1 Mine, to Mountain Coal Company, West Elk
Mine, and processed by the Division as a Succession of Operator. Both companies are wholly
owned subsidiaries of the Atlantic Richfield Company. The Division issued a proposed decision
to approve the name change pursuant to Rule 2.08.6(4) on December 20, 1991. The decision
was final following the public comment period, on January 20, 1992. The permit was
subsequently transferred by succession of operator to MCC, LLC, a subsidiary of Arch Coal,
Inc., on April 23, 1998.

Including PR-15, thirteen permit revisions have been approved (PR-9 was withdrawn and PR-13
was numerically skipped). Ten bond release applications have been approved. A complete
summary of previous major permitting actions is given below.

Mountain Coal Company, formerly the West Elk Coal Company, applied on
November 6, 1979 for a permit to conduct underground mining and reclamation
operations at the West Elk Mine, formerly the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 Mine.

The application was determined to be complete on November 29, 1979. The first review
comments from the Division of Water Resources were received on March 26, 1980, and
comments from the Division of Wildlife were received on April 22, 1980. During the
latter part of June, 1980, the Division received the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation
and Enforcement's (OSM) Apparent Completeness Review of the application, which was
subsequently incorporated into the July, 1980 Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal
Mining (MLRB) Preliminary Adequacy Review Letter and then forwarded to the
company. On January 13, 1981, a meeting was held between OSM and MLRD to assess
the adequacy of MCC's responses, and it was at this point in time that the responses were
found to be substantially inadequate in a variety of aspects. This resulted in a decision to
prepare a second, joint adequacy letter which was sent to the company on February 6,
1981.

On January 30, 1981 the Division received additional comments from the Division of
Water Resources which outlined the deficiencies in the application with regard to water
rights and, in particular, with the deficiencies of the proposed Minnesota Creek Basin
Augmentation Plan. Additional comments on water rights issues were submitted in
February and March of 1981 in the form of objection letters from several concerned
citizens. These letters also discussed problems relating to alluvial valley floors,
protection for perennial streams, the potential for landslides to be triggered by
subsidence, cumulative hydrologic impacts, the adequacy of MCC's subsidence