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I. PURPOSE A~EED FOR THE ACTION • Western Fuels-Utah Inc., has applied Eor an emergency bypass Lease ad;a:en_ and contiguous to its Logical Mining Unit (LMU) at the Deserado Mine, Rio • Blanco County, Colorado (Figure L). The application is for 344.31 acres and approximately 2,114,000 cecoverable tons of coal (Figure 2). The area applied for under thin lease application is included in the proposed Prairie Dog Lease Tract. The lands applied for are described as follows: T.2N., R.lO1W., Section 1: Lots 1, 2, 5, and 6, SW1/4NE1/4, 411/2SE1/4NE1/4, N1/2NE1/4 and SE1/4 T.3N., R.lO1W., Section 36: SW1/4SE1/4, 4i1/2SE1/4SE1/4 The application is filed in accordance with Titl• 43 CFR 3425-Leasing on Application. The objective of this regulation is to provide an application process through which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) may consider holding lease salsa apart from the competitive lease process, where an emergency need for unleaaed coal is demonstrated. An emergency Leae• sale may be held in reapaM• to an application, iE the application shows. 1. That the coal reserves applied for shall be mined as part of • mining operation that is producing coal on the date of the application. If the coal dapoaits are not leased, they would be bypassed in the reason- ably foreseeable future, and if Leased, some portion of the tract applied for would be used within 3 years. • 2. That the need for the coal depoaita shall have resulted from circumstances that were either beyond the control of the applicant or could not have been raaaonably foreseen and planned for in time to allow for consider- ation of Leasing the tract under normal procedures. It was determined by the BLM Colorado State Office on Febeuary 2, 1987, that this application meets the qualifications to be considered as an emergency bypass Lease. The coal reserve that is isolated by the well defined split in the coal seam would be lost to future production. Comolianea With the Land use Plan This application is considered to be in compliance with the existing land use place. 'fllf Yhite Biver Management Fcamawork Plan (LLLrP), was completed and tppco~ed in 1973 and amended in 1980. In December 1981, the MFP was asandad apaia foe deteemination of suitability for coal development throe{h the application of the unsuitability criteria for the federal lands. iha information in the approved Land use plan amendment determined that the area was suitable for coal development and coal production could occur on the emergency bypass lease application area without unduly damag- ing the environment. 1 c