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• If you concur with this recommendation, please sign the attached memorandum to the <br />Assistant Secretary, Land and Minerals Management. <br />II. Background <br />The Colowyo surface coal mine is located in Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties, Colorado <br />approximately twenty-eight (28) miles south of the town of Craig, Colorado on Bureau of <br />Land Management, State and private lands. The mine has been in operation since 1977 <br />and currently employs 296 people during full production. The life of the currently <br />approved mining operations within the approved permit area is estimated to be eleven <br />(1 I) years. The mining operations use a combination of dragline, truck shovel, and <br />highwall miner mining methods. The average production rate is 4.5 million tons per year <br />from eight (8) coal seams of the Williams Fork Formation, but the maximum production <br />rate could reach the approved 9.0 million tons per year. <br />The original mining plan for a portion of Federal leases D-034365 and C-35874 at the <br />Colowyo mine was approved on February 22, 1983. Since that approval there have been <br />three mining plan modifications for the Colowyo mine. A mining plan modification for <br />the remainder of Federal leases D-034365 and C-35874 and a portion of new Federal <br />lease C-29224 was approved on February 24, 1989. A mining plan modification for the <br />remainder of Federal lease C-29224 was approved on August 3, 1992. A mining plan <br />modification for a portion of new Federal leases C-29225 and C-29226 was approved on <br />• July 25, 2001. <br />The State's current permit area covers 7,531 acres. <br />Approximately 3,837 surface acres are disturbed within the State's permit area. <br />A total of 2,365 acres of Federal coal exist within the State's current permit area. <br />A total of 22 million tons of Federal coal remain within the current permit area. <br />A total of 516 acres of Federal surface land exist within the State's current permit area. <br />The post mining land use within the currently approved mining plan area is rangeland and <br />wildlife habitat. <br />III. The Proposed Action <br />This mining plan action consists of a mining plan modification for Federal leases <br />C-29225, and C-29226, and new Federal lease C-0123476. Specifically, the mining plan <br />action proposed by Colowyo Coal Company, L.P. consists of: <br />r1 <br />LJ <br />