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MEMORANDUM United States Department of the Interior OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING Reclamation and Enforcement BROOKS TOWERS 1020 1 STH STREET DENVER, COLORADO 80202 iiiiiiiiiiiniiim 999 g ~ NOV 198 T0: Richard Harris, Director, OSM FROM: Richard E. Dawes, Deputy Administrat es"E-rn Technical Center SUBJECT: Recommendation of Approval of the Orchard Valley Mining and Reclamation Plan, Colorado Westmoreland, Inc., Delta County, Colorado (Federal Lease Nos. C-25079 and C-27432) I. Recommendation: Based on the Technical Assessment (TA) prepared by the State of Colorado, Mined Land Reclamation Division (NERD), the State's approval of the mine, and the Environmental Assessment (EA) prepared by the Bureau of Land Management (BEM), I am recommending approval with stipulations of Colorado Westmoreland, Inc.'s (CWI) mining and reclamation plan for the Orchard Valley Mine. The company has proposed to continue underground coal mining within Federal coal lease Nos. C-25079 and C-27432 for a permit term of less than five years at an increased production rate. OSM and [he State, in the course of their review, have identified some elements of the applicant's proposal which, in order to be in compliance with the approved State Program, require- conditions of approval. These conditions are attached to the proposed permit (~kC0-0012, 11/81) and are included as part of the preferred alternative. II. Background: The underground mine is located in Delta County, Colorado about 1/2 mile north of Paonia, Colorado (Attachment A--maps A,B,C). The Orchard Valley Mine commenced operations in 1975 on the 120-acre Pavlisick lease (fee coal). CWI obtained from BLM (March 1978) a short-term lease (C-25079) to allow the mine to continue operation. CWI then obtained from BLM (1979) another short-term lease (C-27432) to allow for continued mining. CWI has been trying to secure a Long-term lease in the area from BLM but has so far been unable to and has therefore had to operate on short-term leases. The recom,sended approval would allow CWI to mine at 1.3 million tons per year up from 700,000 tons per year for about 2 to 3 years before exhausting their present leased coal. It is OSM's understanding that CWI is presently discussing with BLM the acquisition of a long-term lease. If it appears that a long-term Lease is not possible before CWI will run out of coal, CWI may apply for an emergency short-term lease. The short-term lease can be for up to eight years and is a competitive lease. However, all bidders must meet the emergency leasing requirements and to date the only bidder has been the applicant.