2020-08-10_REVISION - C1981019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Eel I HISTORYej_'O�� Zach Trujillo Environmental Protection Specialist Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety 1313 Sherman Street, Room 215 Denver, CO 80203 RE: Colowyo Coal Mine (Permit No. C-1981-019), Technical Revision No. 140 (HC# 67752) Dear Mr. Trujillo, Thank you for your correspondence dated July 31, 2020 and received by our office on August 6, 2020 regarding the review of the above referenced undertaking under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its implementing regulations 36 CFR Part 800. After review of the documentation provided, we note that in accordance with the 1991 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between our agencies, because the technical revision may incorporate additional lands into the permit area or might otherwise alter previously approved permit conditions or mitigation measures, concurrence between our agencies is required due to the potential for impacts to cultural and/or historic resources. After review of the MOU, we note that not only was it signed 29 years ago, but the only amendment (containing categorical exclusions) was made 17 years ago. We suggest that our offices collaborate in the near future to assess the continuing usefulness of the MOU and the possibility of terminating the MOU and creating a Programmatic Agreement or several Programmatic Agreements tailored to the specific needs of the various resource types managed by your office. We also request in the future that documents you would like us to review are included as attachments to your correspondence in order to assist in our review. The technical revision application may incorporate additional lands into the permit area or might otherwise alter previously approved permit conditions or mitigation measures. As a result, impacts to cultural and historic resources must be evaluated. A search of the Colorado Cultural Resource Inventory Database indicates that cultural resource specialists have conducted 10 inventories in a mile of the project area. No cultural resources were previously identified in the project location and a cultural resource (5MF.404) was identified in a mile of the project location. 5MF.404 was previously determined not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The provided documentation notes that the technical revision does not propose additional surface disturbance outside an area currently approved for disturbance. A review of orthoimagery and provided documentation shows that previous mining activity has heavily disturbed the project location. Based on the documentation provided, we find that a finding of no historic properties affected [36 CFR 800.4(d)(2)] is appropriate for the subject undertaking. Should unidentified archaeological resources be discovered in the course of the project, work must be interrupted until the resources have been evaluated in terms of the National Register eligibility criteria (36 CFR 60.4) in consultation with our office pursuant to 36 CFR 800.13. Also, should the consulted -upon scope of the work change, please contact our office for continued consultation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. We request being involved in the consultation process with the local government, which as stipulated in 36 CFR 800.3 is required to be notified of the undertaking, and with other consulting parties. Additional information provided by the local government or consulting parties might cause our office to re-evaluate our Hi STORY COLORADO CENTER 1200 BROADWAY DENVER CO 80203