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-6- S u7mna ry History of the Review Process, Description of the Environment and Description of The Operations and Reclamation Plan History of the Review Process The Bear Coal Company operations currently consist of a complex of two small underground mines (Bear No. 1 and No. 2) located approximately 10 miles north- east of Paonia, Colorado and one-half mile east of Somerset, Colorado on the North Fork of the Gunnison River, adjacent to Colorado Highway I33. Operations began at the Bear mine in 1934 and have been continuous since that time. Presently, 250,000 to 300,000 tons of coal per year are produced from the "C" seam on Federal Coal Leases D-044569 and C-0117192. An area of approximately 19 acres has been disturbed by portals, a haul road, and office and shop facilities south of the river, and Ioadout facilities north of the river. The Bear Coal Company operations are currently covered by Extraction and Develop- ment Permit No. 77-244, issued by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board ("MLRB"). The applicant, as part of this permit application, is proposing to open the Bear No. 3 mine, to be located approximately one-half mile west of the existing operations at the site of the abandoned Edwards mine (also known as the Anchor mine), immediately southeast of the town of Somerset, on the south side of the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Bear Coal Company proposes to mine the "C" seam in Federal Coal Lease No. D-052501, immediately adjacent to their existing workings. The surface disturbance associated with the proposed Bear No. 3 mine will be approximately 8 acres, with a total affected area of 287 acres. The permit application which is being proposed for approval by the Division was submitted in two parts. The first part was submitted on February 17, 1981 and included the Bear No. 1 and Bear No. 2 mines. A completeness letter was sent to the applicant on February 27, 1981. The applicant began publishing public notice of filing of the application in the North Fork Times on March 12, 1981. A joint preliminary adequacy letter conveying the concerns of the Office of Surface Mining and the Division was sent to the applicant on May 15, 1981. The applicant responded to those concerns on November 19, 1981. The second part of this application was submitted on November 12, 1981 as a revision to the pending permit application which included the Bear No. 1 and Bear No. 2 mines. This second submission addressed the Bear No. 3 mine. The Division sent a notice of Completeness to the applicant on November 13, 1981. The applicant began publishing public notice of this revision on November I9, 1981 in the North Fork Times. The notice was published for four consecutive weeks. The Division sent the applicant a preliminary adequacy letter addressing the Bear No. 3 proposal on Tanuary 18, 1982. The applicant responded to those deficiencies, as well as remaining deficiencies in the Bear No. 1 and Bear No. 2 application, through several meetings and letters during February and March 1982. The Technical Analysis and Findings Document have been completed by the Division and OSM, with the assistance of other federal and state agencies.