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• CHAPTER I <br />INTRODUCTION <br />A. Purpose and Need for the Action <br />Bear Coal Company (BCC) submitted a permit application <br />package (PAP) for a permit revision for the Bear Mine to the <br />Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG) under the <br />Colorado State program (30 CFR Part 906). The PAP proposes <br />an increase of 205 acres to the permitted area of the Bear <br />Mine, including an extension of underground mining <br />operations into about 165 acres of Federal lease C-42481. <br />About 650,000 additional tons of Federal coal would be <br />mined. <br />Under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, the Assistant <br />Secretary, Land and Minerals Management (ASLMM), must <br />approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove the mining <br />plan modification for Federal lease C-42481. Pursuant to <br />30 CFR Part 746, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation <br />and Enforcement (OSM) must recommend to the ASLMM approval, <br />approval with conditions, or disapproval of the mining plan. <br />B. Project Background and General Information <br />• The Bear underground coal mine is located in Gunnison <br />County, Colorado, next to the town of Somerset. The <br />mine has been in operation since 1934. About 8 acres <br />have been affected by surface disturbance to date. The <br />underground mining operations utilize room and pillar <br />mining methods. <br />The original mining plan for the Bear Mine was approved <br />under the Federal lands program on July 16, 1982, for mining <br />the C seam in Federal lease D-052501. Since that approval <br />there have been two other mining plan actions for the Bear <br />Mine. <br />In 1985, BCC subleased a part of Atlantic Richfield <br />Company's Federal lease C-0117192. The Bureau of Land <br />Management (BLM) designated the subleased area as Federal <br />lease C-42481. The Bear Mine mining plan for adding the C <br />seam of Federal lease C-42481 was approved on December 26, <br />1985. In 1989, BCC constructed ramps down from the C seam <br />underground workings to the B seam, and a mining plan <br />modification for mining the B seam in Federal leases <br />D-052501 and C-42481 was approved on June 8, 1989. In <br />December 1993, BCC submitted this proposed mining plan <br />modification for extending B-seam mining into an additional <br />165 acres of Federal lease C-42481. Approval of this <br />• <br />2 <br />