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Biological Assessment <br /> Federal Coal Lease Modification(COC-62920)and Federal Mine Permit(CO-0106A)Revision and Renewal <br /> 1. Introduction <br /> On December 28, 2010, pursuant to regulations in 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) <br /> 3410.2-1, GCC Energy, LLC (GCC), a subsidiary of Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, submitted a <br /> modification application to Federal Coal Lease COC-62920 to the Colorado State Director of the <br /> U.S. Department of the Interior(DOI) Bureau of Land Management(BLM). The application was <br /> amended on October 17, 2014, to adjust the parcels included in the modification and to clarify <br /> legal land descriptions. The proposed lease modification would add 950.55 acres to the existing <br /> King 11 Mine lease area. On March 20, 2017, GCC submitted a permit application package <br /> (consisting of a Permit Revision application and a Permit Renewal Application)to the DOI <br /> Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement(OSMRE)to revise Federal Permit CO- <br /> 0106A to mine the additional lease acreage proposed for the King 11 Mine. As the regulatory <br /> authority with jurisdiction by law to approve, disapprove, or conditionally approve the federal <br /> mine permit(including permit renewals and revisions), and to provide oversight authority of the <br /> Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (CDRMS) mine permit, OSMRE must <br /> analyze the potential environmental impacts to determine whether or not to approve the permit <br /> revision and renew the federal permit. The BLM Tres Rios Field Office is charged with <br /> administrating the affected federal mineral estate. <br /> Threatened and endangered species are managed under the authority of the Endangered Species <br /> Act(ESA) of 1973 (Public Law 93-205, as amended; 16 United States Code [USC] 1536 (c)). <br /> The ESA requires federal agencies to ensure that all actions they authorize, fund, or carry out are <br /> not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species, or result <br /> in the destruction or adverse modification of their critical habitat. As such, both the BLM and <br /> OSMRE are responsible for analyzing the potential environmental impacts of their respective <br /> federal leasing and permitting actions on threatened and endangered species. <br /> This Biological Assessment(BA) has been jointly prepared by the BLM and OSMRE to <br /> document the agencies' conclusions and the rationale to support those conclusions regarding the <br /> effects of their proposed actions on protected resources. This BA is prepared in accordance with <br /> legal requirements set forth under Section 7 of the ESA, and follows the standards established in <br /> 7 CFR 1940.312(c) and includes elements identified at 50 CFR §402.12(f). <br /> 1.1 Background <br /> This section summarizes pertinent background information about the historical and current <br /> operation of the King II Mine. Of relevance to the analysis completed in this BA is the <br /> background information related to the end use of the mined coal. More detailed background is <br /> included in the Environmental Assessment(EA) for which this BA is appended. <br /> The King Coal Mine began operation in 1938 at the current location in Hesperus, Colorado, with <br /> the first federal coal lease for the mine obtained in 1941 (Appendix A, Map A-1). Coal <br /> July 2017 <br /> 4 <br />