2022-02-22_PERMIT FILE - C1980007 ‎(4)‎

• Permit No: C1980007
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 2/22/2022
• Doc Name: 2.04-1 Thru 2.04-11
• Section_Exhibit Name: 2.04 Application for Permit for Surface or Underground Mining Activities
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

West Elk Mine

2.04-2 Rev. 06/05- PR10, 03/06- PR10, 04/06- PR10, 09/07- PR12; 07/18- PR15; 01/22- MR459

Pre-Mining Environmental Resources/Condition, Capability and Productivity

Lands within the West Elk Mine permit area are managed by the U.S. Department of Interior -
Bureau of Land Management (BLM); the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Forest Service (USFS);
MCC; and the private landowners identified in Exhibit 3. Public lands managed by the BLM fall
within the Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area. Forest system lands managed by the USFS are
located within the Gunnison National Forest. Use of private lands in unincorporated Gunnison
County is regulated by Gunnison County. BLM manages the public lands according to Resource
Management Plans (RMP) prepared under the BLM Federal Land Policy and Management Act
(FLPMA). Information regarding the existing pre-mining environmental and land uses on these
public lands is derived from the RMPs prepared for the Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area and the
Gunnison National Forest. The USFS manages the forest system lands in the area according to the
Grand Mesa Uncompahgre & Gunnison (GMUG) Land and Resource Management Plan (1983, as
revised), prepared in accordance with the NFMA. Information on the pre-mining land uses on
private lands is derived from information provided by landowners or long-time residents of the area.
Map 67 depicts the pre-mining surface land uses of the permit and adjacent areas.

Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area

Within the West Elk Mine permit area, the BLM manages approximately 182 acres of public land
located in Section 11 and 12, T13S, R90W. These lands fall within Management Unit 7, which
accounts for four (4) percent of the total land area of the Uncompahgre Basin Planning Area. The
existing pre-mining environmental resources identified as important by the BLM in this area are
coal and wildlife habitat (BLM, 1989). The relatively small size of the area within this tract and its
proximity to existing transportation facilities (State Highway 133, and the Union Pacific Railroad),
the North Fork of the Gunnison River, and existing mines, limit the number and variety of land uses
for the tract. The BLM has not developed or provided a discussion of the capability of the land to
support a variety of uses, recognizing that livestock grazing and mining have been the dominant
historical uses of the area since European settlement of the North Fork Valley. Productivity of the
land has not been quantified by BLM since the primary use is mining. Wildlife habitat is minimal
in this area of the management unit, and there is no crucial deer and elk winter range in this area.

The BLM has specified the management of this area in the RMP (BLM, 1989):

"The management unit will be managed for both existing and potential coal development.
Development of existing coal leases will continue, and unleased federal coal will be
identified as acceptable for further coal leasing consideration with a minimum of
multiple-use restrictions. Activities and land uses that are consistent with maintaining
existing coal operations and the potential for coal development will be permitted."

Other acceptable land uses in this management unit are oil and gas leasing and development,
forestry, utility corridors, and off-road vehicle use.