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1> <br />Summary <br />The Review Process <br />The La Plata No. 1 Mine is located approximately 4 1/2 miles southwest of <br />Hesperus, La Plata County, Colorado. This mine was previously known as the <br />Peacock Mine and has been in existence since around 1905. Coal mining <br />occurred on a fairly regular basis from 1905 to 1982 with a total production <br />of approximately 76,000 tons. The new owners of this mine, La Plata Coal <br />Corporation, purchased this mine in late 1986 and renamed the mine <br />La Plata No. 1 Mine. <br />Subsequent to the enactment of the Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation <br />Act (C. R. S. 34-33-101 et se9.), the previous owners of this mine, Sunbelt <br />Mining, Inc., submitte~a permit application. This application, received on <br />December 18, 1981, was deemed complete for the purposes of filing on <br />January 5, 1982. A letter addressing outstanding concerns was forwarded to <br />Sunbelt Mining by the Division. Due to the failure to address these concerns <br />and provide sufficient information required by the Act, the Division denied <br />this permit application on February 15, 1983. <br />La Plata Coal Corporation submitted a modified version of the Sunbelt Mining <br />permit application on January 27, 1987. This application was deemed complete <br />for the purposes of filing by the Division on January 30, 1987. The Division <br />reviewed this application and forwarded the preliminary adequacy review letter <br />to La Plata Coal Corporation on March 13, 1987. Due to the numerous concerns <br />contained in this adequacy review, La Plata Coal Corporation decided to <br />entirely rewrite the application and submitted the new permit application on <br />April 9, 1987. The Division reviewed this new application and forwarded a <br />second adequacy letter on May 11, 1987. La Plata Coal Corporation submitted <br />responses on May 19 and 29, 1987 which satisfactorily addressed the <br />outstanding concerns. <br />The Existing Environment <br />The proposed operation, located in southwestern Colorado, is accessed by <br />traveling south from Hesperus on State Highway 140 for approximately 3.5 miles <br />and then proceeding west on La Plata County Road 120 for about 4 miles. The <br />La Plata No. 1 Mine is located entirely north of County Road 120 except for <br />the sediment pond which is in Hay Gulch south of County Road 120. Elevation <br />of the area ranges from approximately 7,450 feet at the sediment pond to <br />approximately 7,650 feet at the mine portals. <br />As mentioned above, mine activities commenced at this site around 1905. <br />Meetings were held in 1981 with Sunbelt Mining, Inc., to discuss permit <br />application development, in particular baseline inventory. Because all lands <br />associated with this site had previously been disturbed, it was agreed that no <br />actual baseline inventory was necessary. Rather, a general description of the <br />surrounding non-disturbed acres was required for vegetation and soil <br />descriptions. The generalized baseline information was included in the permit <br />application submitted by Sunbelt Mining on December 18, 1981. With the <br />acquisition of this property by La Plata Coal Corporation, the Division <br />-5- <br />