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___ __ _ v'~4 III III III IIIIIII I 999 ~:. i L1 A ~ r~~ l~f~~ r ~1i1 ~ ~(~ / Ll 11 L. ~J1 ~~/L~/1 ~/ lU `~ DIVISION OF MINERALS AND GEOLOGY Department of Nalu ral Resources ~:orr~co~ ,^co . p~ v, /~e 1313 Sherman St.. Room 215 ~,, ,,r ,/, Denver, CO 80203 Phone: 13031 865-3 567 ix-+c FAX: 130 31 8 3 2-81 On Fu. F rmrr l.~l~t r.^.Jr hlic haul 8. Lone U iv is ion Dneaor November 25, 1992 Ms. Kathy Welt Environmental Supervisor Mountain Coal Company P.O. Sox 591 Somerset, CO 81434 RE: Permit Renewal; West Elk Mine; File No. C-80-007 Dear Ms. Welt; Enclosed for your information are comments from the US Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the renewal application for the West Elk Mine. The Service has noted two areas of concern. The first is regarding West Elk's water depletion amount in regards to the razorback sucker (Xvrauchen texanus) which has been listed as endangered. It appears that the Windy Gap Policy calculations need to be revised in relation to the 1991 Permit RerLewal, as detailed in a July 6, 1989, letter to the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) in Denver from West Elk Coal Company. Mountain Coal Company should plan on revising the calculations with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and providing the Division with the correspondence so that we may comment on the calcualtions. If the calculations are revised, this information must be incorporated into the permit application via a technical revision. Specifically, any revised hydrology calculations must be incorporated into the Probable Hydrologic Consequences (PHC) section of the permit. As the permit renewal is overdue, the Division will stipulate this requirement with a due date of December 31, 1992, in order to complete the renewal issues still outstanding. The second issue regards a plant species, Penstemon mensarum (Grand Mesa penstemon), that has been found in the vicinity of the mine and is a candidate for official listing as a threatened or endangered species. The Service recommends, and the Division concurs, that a survey be conducted for this species prior to any future surface disturbance. As this permit renewal does not include any additional surface disturbance, the survey does not have to be completed at this time, but please be aware of this recommendation in the future.