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iiiiiiiiiuiiuiu `K- h ~v v. ! ~ ~ O _~ ^M. i ~M° ~~,~~~~ 1020 15TH STREET :per DENVER, COLORADO 80202 ~1~,'J United States Department of the Interior OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING Reclamation and Enforcement BROOKSTOWERS David C. Shelton, Director ,'' FEB 1580 Mine Land Reclamation Division Department of Natural Resources 1313 Sherman St. Denver, Colorado 80203 Dear Mr. Shelton: ~'li n. FFB 1 E~i;1r•c~ ~ ~ X86 ;~ _ Kr.`y ., :.! ~j • u., Enclosed for your records and also for forwarding to Twentymile Coal Company, are Bureau of Land ianagement comments on the Foidel Creek mine permit application. Also, as per the Colorado Cooperative Agreement the following is information to be applied during your analysis of section 522 of the Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement Act (SMCRA). Under section 522(b) of SMCRA, the Secretary of the Interior must conduct a review of Federal lands to determine, pursuant to the standards set forth in sections 522(x)(2) and 522(x)(3) of SMCRA, whether there are areas on Federal lands that are unsuitable for all or certain types of surface coal mining operations. The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) is responsible for making the findings that the Federal lands within the permit area are not unsuitable for mining pursuant to section 522(b) of SMCRA. For Federal coal leases issued after the July 19, 1979, promulgation of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) unsuitability criteria regulations (43 CFR Subpart 3461), BLM will have conducted the Federal lands review during the leasing process. Hoxever, for federal coal leases issued on or before Julp 19, 1979, BLM xill not have conducted the Federal lands review during the leasing process; therefore, the review must be conducted during the permitting and mining plan approval process. To assist OSMRE in the Federal lands review, we request that you include the following information in the decision package prepared by you for use in our Federal 3ecision on the mining plan. Section 522(a)(2) of SMCRA requires that reclamation must be technologically and economically feasible. OSMRE reviews the operation and reclamation plan portion of the permit application package (PAP) and reviews the finding of the State regulatory authority (RA) that reclamation, as required by the State program approved pursuant to SMCRA, can be accomplished under the reclamation plan contained in the PAP. This review, assuming concurrence with the State RA's analysis, is sufficient to determine that reclamation is technologically feasible.