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• I have determined that approval with conditions of this <br />mining plan modification will not have a significant impact <br />on the quality of the human environment. The impacts of <br />approval of this mining plan modification and alternatives <br />are described in the environmental assessment included with <br />the decision document. <br />The mining plan approval document included in the decision <br />document is in conformance with the Mineral Leasing Act of <br />1920, as amended, and applicable Federal regulations. I <br />recommend that you advise the Assistant Secretary--Land and <br />Minerals Management, under 30 CFR Part 746, that the WECC's <br />Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine mining plan modification for Federal <br />leases C-1362, C-0117192, and D-044569 is ready for approval <br />with conditions. <br />II. Background <br />The Mt. Gunnison No. 1 underground coal mine is located in <br />Gunnison County, Colorado, 10 miles east of Paonia. The <br />mine has been in operation since 1982. About 80 acres have <br />been disturbed by surface facilities. <br />Including the 35.5-acre permit revision area, the total <br />• permitted area of the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine contains about <br />4276 acres. Mining is expected to continue for about 10 <br />years under Colorado permit C-80-007 and the proposed mining <br />plan modification. <br />The original mining plan for the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine was <br />approved under the Federal lands program on July 15, 1981 <br />for Federal leases C-0117192 and D-044569. Since that <br />approval there have been three other mining plan actions for <br />the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine (i.e., August 16, 1985, <br />September 27, 1985, and November 21, 1987). With this <br />mining plan action, the approved mining plan area for the <br />Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine will contain a total of about 3536 <br />acres, including the previously approved 3500-acre mining <br />plan area for Federal leases C-1362, C-0117192, and <br />D-044569. <br />The modifications to the mining plan, as proposed by WECC, <br />include: <br />(1) Adjustments to the sequence and layout of the <br />currently approved room and pillar mining in the F seam. A <br />new F-seam submain (Northwest Submain) would be driven in <br />the NW1/4 of Section 16 and three panels (1S, 25, and 35) <br />would be mined, mostly in the SW1/4 of Section 16, using <br />room and pillar mining methods with partial pillar <br />• extraction on retreat. The other modifications include <br />deletion of a mining area because of adverse geologic <br />