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ge..c~r~ <br />• U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <br />OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT <br />FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT <br />FOR <br />Somerset / Sanborn Creek /Elk Creek Mine <br />Federal Coal Lease COC-61357 <br />Mining Plan Decision Document <br />A. Introduction <br />Oxbow Mining, LLC. submitted a permit application package (PAP) for a permit revision <br />for the Elk Creek Mine to the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (CO-DMG). <br />The PAP proposed extending underground mining operations into approximately 4,603 <br />acres of Federal lease COC-61357. Under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, the Assistant <br />Secretary, Land and Minerals Management, must approve, approve with conditions, or <br />disapprove the new mining plan for Federal lease COC-61357. Pursuant to 30 CFR Part <br />746, the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is recommending approval of the mining plan <br />action without special conditions. <br />B. Statement of Environmental Significance of the Proposed Action <br />The undersigned person has determined that the above-named proposed action would not <br />• have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment under section <br />102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. <br />4332(2)(C), and therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement is not required. <br />C. Reasons <br />This finding of no significant impact is based on the attached Bureau of Land <br />Management and U. S. Forest Service prepared Environmental Assessment entitled Final <br />Environmental Impact Statement -Iron Point Exploration License, -Iron Point Coal <br />Lease Tract, -Elk Creek Coal Lease Tract, Delta and Gunnison Counties, Colorado, <br />February 2000, which has been independently evaluated by OSM and determined to <br />assess the environmental impacts of the proposed action adequately and accurately and to <br />provide sufficient evidence and analysis for this finding of no significant impact. OSM <br />takes full responsibility for the accuracy, scope, and content of the attached <br />environmental assessment. <br />~ _~..~J <br />Chief. Northwest Branch <br />06 05 03 <br />Date <br /> <br />