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Colowyo had been encouras~ed by the BLM to avoid a coal bvaass situation. <br />By letter dated May 16, 2001 the Bureau of Land Management, Little Snake Field Office <br />(see attached) confirms that it anticipates no objections to Colowyo's entry into C-29225 <br />pending OSMRE and CDMG approval of the TR-53 Permit application. Colowyo had <br />previously met with the BLM on March 29, 2001.to discuss mining of the coal to avoid a <br />bypass situation and the BLM verbally encouraged Colowyo to act as quickly as <br />possible. Because of the BLM's prior verbal approval of entry into C-29225 the BLM has <br />expressed no objection to this inadvertent entry into the lease. <br />The mining of the coal occurred during night shift on May 3, 2001. Because of the lag in <br />conversion of field survey information to pit maps, employee business trips, weekends, <br />etc., Colowyo management was not appraised of the incident until late on the afternoon <br />of May 14, 2001. The BLM was notified on May 14 and the Division was notified on May <br />15. Meanwhile, the area in question had already been covered with spoil during the <br />subsequent routine mining activities and was no longer visible. Nevertheless, because <br />our coal removal survey indicated we had mined passed the lease line the proper <br />authorities were notified. <br />The subject area was previously included in the PAP and permitted with CDMG as part <br />of PR-01 and RN-02 (CDMG approval on June 4, 1992}. The OSMRE July 1992 Mine <br />Plan Decision Document referred to this area in it's review as the "proposed amendment <br />area° and Secretary approval was recommended and approved on July 29, 1992. While <br />not specifically authorizing the removal of coal from C-29225, the action did appear to <br />include an analysis and approval of the mining and reclamation plans for the PR-01 mine <br />plan expansion. <br />• The current CDMG Permit C-81-019 includes the affected area in the current <br />aaaroved clans for topsoil, overburden removal and reclamation. <br />To facilitate safe removal of the Section 16 coal, the entire affected area is currently <br />approved by the Division for topsoil removal, overburden removal and reclamation. The <br />current mine plan calls for topsoil removal and some overburden removal to lay the <br />highball back in Section 17 to facilitate complete removal of the Section 16 coal to the <br />lease line. The fact that Section 17 coal was inadvertently removed had no bearing on <br />the overall mining operation that would have otherwise occurred in this vicinity. <br />On April 16, 2001, Colowyo submitted TR-53 to the Division to facilitate removal of <br />325,000 tons of coal from C-29225 and to otherwise obtain OSMRE mine plan approval <br />for those portions of C-29225 and C-29226 which otherwise lie within the current <br />boundaries of CDMG Permit C-81-019. As early as October, 2000 Colowyo had <br />