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_ began to implement its development plan through the ~~~ <br />significant legal commitment of obtaining a development and • <br />extraction permit for its underground Eagle Mine No. 9 from <br />the State of Colorado. <br />Empire's aggressive underground mine permit development <br />activities began in 1976 and culminated on March 24, 1977, <br />when it received a "life of the mine" permit from the <br />Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for the Mine No. 9 <br />portion of the Eagle Mine Complex. Other significant legal <br />commitments were made in the form of coal supply contracts <br />which were consummated for 10 years and 20 years on <br />October 1, 1975, and August 1, 1975, respectively. <br />Thus, as of January 1, 1977, Empire had committed a signifi- <br />cant financial and legal resources to the development of the <br />Eagle Mine Complex mining operation. This planned mining <br />operation included a mining complex to extract coal from <br />five coal seams and process the same through a central <br />sizing and unit train loading system. Coal was to be <br />extracted from the mineable seams using the standard room <br />and pillar system of mining based on the layout of mains and <br />submains to create rooming areas for planned pillar <br />extraction. (The only areas not planned for pillar <br />extraction were those areas directly beneath the rivers and <br />public highways.) ~~ <br />As demonstrated above, significant financial and legal <br />commitments were made in furtherance of the implementation <br />of the planned mining operation that treated the leasehold <br />as a single mine complex. <br />VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLIISION <br />A. Summary <br />Empire asserts that the following is clearly demonstrated by <br />a review of its request: <br />1) Section 5I0(b)(5) of P.L. 95-87 is a proviso which <br />provides an exemption for certain mining <br />operations from the requirements of Section <br />510 (b) (5) (A) and (B) ; <br />2) A similar proviso has been set forth in Section <br />CRS 33-34-114(2)(e)(II) of the Colorado Surface <br />Coal Mining Reclamation Act; <br />3) Underground coal mining activities are subject to <br />the above provisos and are eligible for the <br />exemption referenced in the definition of "Surface ,~ <br />Coal Mining Operations" in 30 CFR 700.5; `J <br />11 <br />