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<br />A. <br />B. <br />CHAPTER I <br />INTRODUCTION <br />Purpose and Need for the Action <br />The PAP proposes an increase of 1,878 acres to the permitted <br />area of the Colowyo Mine (the proposed amendment area), <br />including an extension of surface mining operations into an <br />additional 497 acres of Federal lease C-29224. About 20 <br />million additional tons of coal would be mined, including <br />about 9 million tons of additional Federal coal from lease <br />C-29224. The proposed permit area, the proposed amendment <br />area, and the mining plan modification area are shown on the <br />attached map. Colorado MLRD approved the PAP and issued the <br />permit revision for permit C-81-019 on June 4, 1992. <br />Colowyo Coal Company (Colowyo) submitted a permit <br />application package (PAP) for a permit revision for the <br />Colowyo Mine to the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division <br />(NERD) under the Colorado state program (30 CFR Part 906). <br />Under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, the Assistant <br />Secretary, Land and Minerals Management (Assistant <br />Secretary) must approve the mining plan modification for <br />Federal lease C-29224 prior to the beginning of operations <br />to mine Federal coal. Pursuant to 30 CFR Part 746, the <br />Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) <br />must make a recommendation to the Assistant Secretary for <br />approval, conditional approval, or denial of the mining plan <br />modification. <br />Project Background and General Information <br />The Colowyo surface coal mine is located in Moffat <br />County, Colorado, about 28 miles southwest of Craig, <br />Colorado. The mine has been in operation since 1978. <br />The mining operations utilize truck/shovel and dragline <br />mining methods and about 1,887 acres have been affected <br />by surface disturbance to date. The current production <br />rate is about four million tons per year, and the <br />projected life-of-mine is 25 years. The original <br />mining plans for the Colowyo Mine were approved in 1983 <br />for Federal leases D-034365 and C-35874 in conjunction <br />with Colorado Permit No. C-81-019. The permitted area <br />of the mine was 5,525 acres, including 2,560 acres of <br />Federal coal in the two mining plan approval areas. In <br />1989, an additional mining plan was approved for 335 <br />acres of Federal coal in lease C-29224, bringing the <br />approved mining plan acreage for the three mining plans <br />to 2,895 acres. <br />