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• U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <br />OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT <br />SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT <br />For <br />Colowyo Mine <br />Federal Coal Leases C-0123476, C-29225, and C-29226 <br />Mining Plan Decision Document <br />A. Description of the Proposed Action <br />The proposed action is a decision by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Land and Minerals <br />Management, to approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove a mining plan modification. <br />Colowyo Coal Company, L.P. submitted a permit application package for a permit revision <br />(PR-02) for the Colowyo mine to the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety on <br />July 3, 2006. The Colowyo surface coal mine is located in Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties, <br />Colorado approximately twenty-eight (28) miles south of the town of Craig, Colorado. <br />The mine has been in operation since 1977. The original mining plan for Federal leases <br />D-034365 and C-35874 at the Colowyo mine was approved on February 22, 1983. Since that <br />approval there have been three mining plan modifications for the Colowyo mine. A mining plan <br />modification for Federal leases D-034365 and C-35874 and new Federal lease C-29224 was <br />approved on February 24, 1989. A mining plan modification for Federal lease C-29224 was <br />approved on August 3, 1992. A mining plan modification for new Federal leases C-29225 and <br />C-29226 was approved on July 25, 2001. <br />PR-02 proposes to add approximately 6,050 acres to the existing permit area extending surface <br />coal mining operations into the remainder of Federal leases C-29225 and C-29226 and into <br />Federal ]ease C-0123476 for the first time and add an additional coal seam for recovery. PR-02 <br />would add approximately 5,219 acres of Federal coal to the operation. The Colowyo surface <br />mine uses a combination of dragline, truck/shovel, and highwall miner mining methods. The <br />current average production rate is approximately 4.5 million tons per year from eight (8) coal <br />seams of the Williams Fork Formation. PR-02 proposes that the average production rate and the <br />maximum production rate would increase to 5.8 million tons per year and vary from 5.8 to 6.0 <br />million tons per year for the life of the mining operation. PR-02 would increase the State permit <br />area by approximately by 6,050 acres from its present 7,531 acres to a new total of 13,581 acres, <br />and would add an additional 43 million tons of recoverable Federal coal. The life of the mining <br />operations is not expected to change under Colorado Permit C-1981-019 and this proposed <br />mining plan modification due to increases in production and contract obligations. The Colorado <br />Division of Mining, Reclamation and Safety approved PR-02 on May 4, 2007. <br />Pursuant to 30 CFR Part 746, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement <br />(OSM) is recommending that the Assistant Secretary approve the mining plan modification <br />without special conditions. <br /> <br />1- <br />