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BEFORE THE MINED LAND RECLAMATION BOARD <br />STATE OF COLORADO <br />FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND ORDER <br />IN THE MATTER OF CESSATION ORDER No. CO-2020-001, MOUNTAIN <br />COAL COMPANY, LLC, File No. C-1980-007 <br />THIS MATTER came before the Mined Land Reclamation Board ("Board") on <br />July 23, 2020 via video conference for a hearing on Cessation Order CO-2020-001 <br />issued to Mountain Coal Company, LLC ("Operator"), Permit No. C-1980-007. <br />James Stark and First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Fugate appeared on behalf <br />of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety ("Division"). Michael Drysdale, <br />Esq. and John Poulos, P.E., appeared on behalf of Operator. Dan Timmons, Esq. <br />appeared on behalf of Wild Earth Guardians, High Country Conservation <br />Advocates, Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Wilderness <br />Workshop (collectively "Intervenors"). <br />The Board, having considered the presentations, testimony, and evidence of <br />the Division, Operator, and Intervenors, and being otherwise fully informed of the <br />facts in the matter, enters the following: <br />FINDINGS OF FACT <br />1. Operator holds reclamation permit number C-1980-007 for an <br />underground coal mine located in Section 16, Township 13 South, Range 90 West, <br />6th Principal Meridian, Gunnison County, Colorado. The site is known as the West <br />Elk Mine. <br />2. On June 10, 2020, the Division conducted an inspection of the site. <br />3. On June 17, 2020, the Division issued Operator Cessation Order CO- <br />2020-001 (the "Cessation Order"). The Cessation Order noted that the federal <br />district court for the District of Colorado had vacated the North Fork Exception to <br />the Colorado Roadless Rule and that the invalidation meant that Operator had <br />failed to maintain its legal right to enter the Sunset Roadless area. The Division <br />ordered Operator to cease all surface disturbing activities in the Sunset Roadless <br />area, all travel on roads and drill pads constructed in longwall panels LWSS-2, <br />LWSS-3, and LWSS-4 that are within the Sunset Roadless area, and remove all <br />equipment in the Sunset Roadless area. The Cessation Order allowed Operator to <br />continue to access certain areas for stabilization activities necessary to prevent <br />offsite impacts in the Sunset Roadless area. The Division found that the Cessation <br />