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2 <br />3. The West Virginia citation to Cannelton Industries Inc. was apparently <br />withdrawn by the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection. The <br />violation has not yet been removed from the AVS. <br />Because the citations discussed above are currently pending appeals and <br />settlements, the Division has conditioned approval of PR-02 on resolution of <br />these matters. This was done in accordance with agreements between the <br />Division and the OSM regrading implementation of the Applicant Violator System, <br />and State and Federal regulations. While Stipulation No. 7 requires BRL to <br />submit proof of resolution of the compliance problems to the Division, that proof <br />need not be submitted prior to initiation of longwall mining proposed in PR-02. <br />Finally, I would like to explain the current status of the State regulations relevant <br />to this stipulation which I briefly discussed with you on the telephone earlier this <br />week. Most of the federal regulations concerning ownership and control <br />information and permit blocking because of compliance problems were <br />remanded by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1997. In <br />particular, OSM's authority to block permit actions because of compliance <br />problems "upstream" in an organizational ladder was remanded. OSM is <br />attempting to revise the remanded regulations. The compliance problems <br />identified in Stipulation No. 7 on PR-02 are "upstream" in BRL's organizational <br />ladder. <br />The Colorado regulations regarding ownership and control information and <br />permit blocking are virtually identical to the federal regulations. The Colorado <br />Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act includes a prohibition of any regulations <br />more stringent than the federal regulations. The Division has continued to <br />administer its regulations pending a rewrite of the federal ownership and control <br />regulations. However, given the circumstances above, the legal basis for <br />enforcing these regulations is very questionable. Any challenge of a stipulation <br />such as Stipulation No. 7 on the Bowie No., 2 permit before the Mined Land <br />Reclamation Board might very well lead to removal of the stipulation. It could <br />also lead to revocation of the State's ownership and control regulations. <br />