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,Janf..OB-p2 01:58pm From-POST INDEPENDEN~gENS +BTOB4544BT T-5B6 P.O2/O2 F-383 By Donna Daniels Ill IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII DECEIVED Staff Writer A plan to resurrect a coal r ,ne in New Castle did not fare well with Mayor Bill ~A~ ®8 ZQO~ W entzel. t~ivision orMinerals 8 Geolpg~, NCIG Financial Inc. of Califc ~~ia appeared before the town council Tuesday to informally present a plan to r :open a coal mine in Coal Ridge just west of Riverbend suhdiyision, on the south sid. of the Colorado River. Mineral leases for the coal re held by a subsidiary of NCIG, CB Minerals, said New Castle town manager Steve I ppy. "I think it's awful," Wentze said. "I told them that too. I told them I'd do everything in my power to make sure it .loesn't happen." Coal mining Is not a good r .ix with the residential development that has continued to grow on the flat lands below .:aal Ridge, Wentzel said. "C al mining is historic in r le New Castle area, but I just don't think it's appropriate especially wrth the growing r ,~sidential nature of the area," he said- According to Rippy, NCIG : principal Rush Backer told the council he plans to reopen the mine and construct a po Gal across County Road 335 from the RV park antl convernence store just off tl :exit ramp from Interstate-70. He,also said he intends to : ~uplore for coal bed methane. Extracting methane gas from coal seams was pursued by ; number of energy companies in Garfield County in the mid- 1990s when a tax credit wa ~ offered to encourage exploration. That credit is no longer in effect. mine on Coal Ridge is :•art of a coal seam that has been burning since methane Ions in the Vulcan Min killed 89 miners between 1896 and 1916. icilman Duane Guettle questioned Backer about how the burning would be sup~Jressed. It is still visible ~om the Interstate on the side of Coal Ridge arld has give New Castle its monike of Burning Mountain. According to Rippy, Backe. ; said, "I'm not an engineer. They'll have to address it." Backer also told the courn Ian eventual loadout area would be constructed in a pasture due east of Riverbe d. However, during the first phase of mining, the coal would be tucked to Rifle and load ..d on rail cars. He also projected a 40 ye. ~r life for the mine that would employ between 75 and 100 people, Rippy said. RlPpy, whose family has li ed In the New Castle area since the late 1800s, related some of the history of the ~ oal Ridge mines. Coal productions there be , ;Ian in the mid-1880s but was pretty well played out by 191 T e Vulcan Mine, which is located close by NCIG's holding, was ripped by three me one gas explosions, in 896, 1913 and the last in 1916. There are stories, Rippy :: ricl, that the underground fire actually started before 1896,