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Commissioners, State Historic Preservation Office, Water Quality Control Division, Air <br />Pollution Control Division, Natural Resources Conservation District, and the Office of Surface <br />Mining. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the US Army Corps of <br />Engineers were also notified. <br />Shortly after the completeness review, in June 2002, the mine shutdown coal removal operations <br />due to market conditions. <br />Public notice announcing the filing of a complete renewal application was done in the local <br />newspaper, The Chronicle-News, on May 29, June 5, June 12, and June 19, 2002. The Division <br />queried the Applicant Violator System (AVS) on August 19, 2002. The system returned a <br />recommendation of "Deny" due to unpaid AML fees in Colorado. <br />On May 28, 2002 the Division received a letter from State Historic Preservation Office stating <br />their finding that because the permit renewal involves no changes in the previously permitted <br />mined area, there would be no effect to historic properties. <br />On June 20, 2002, the Division received a letter from the USFWS concurring that continuation of <br />the subject project is not likely to result in any new adverse effects on Federally-listed threatened <br />or endangered species. <br />On July 3, 2002, the Division forwarded the first adequacy review letter to the applicant. After <br />numerous requests by the applicant for extension of the decision deadline, adequacy responses <br />were received by the Division on December 20, 2002. <br />Additional adequacy review iterations were conducted between December 20, 2002 and October <br />I5, 2003 to resolve remains issues associated with renewal of the permit. During that time, <br />uncertainty of the future of the operation and a changing in the permitting consultant resulted in <br />many modifications of the permit application package. <br />Another query of the Applicant Violator System (AVS) was conducted on the applicant, <br />Lorencito Coal Company, on September 21, 2003 and returned a recommendation of "Issue", <br />indicating reversal of the previous recommendation. Stipulation No. 13 was also terminated as a <br />result of this recommendation. <br />On October 28, 2003, the Division received final permit materials from the applicant. All issues <br />identified during the review were determined adequate. <br />Description of the Environment <br />General Area <br />The Lorencito Canyon mine is situated near the center of the Raton $asin, southeast of the town <br />of Weston, Colorado. The County Map Topographic Series, Las Animas County, Colorado, <br />sheet 4 of 7, published by the United States Geological Survey, depicts the greater mine azea. <br />Lands in this area aze a small part of the larger Park Plateau, a portion of the Great Plains <br />