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- R~C~lVE~i . , OCT 7 1998 9.L.M. Montrose Dist. ~ P.O. Box 6 Paonia CO 81428 October 3, 1998 >3ECEIVED Mr. Alan Belt NO U 0 .y 1998 Bureau of Land Management Montrose, CO ~"ws~on at Minerals 8 Geology Deaz Mr. Belt: Enclosed you will find a copy of our comments on the Bowie Resources Coal Lease EA. Most of our comments deal with the failure of Bowie Resources to comply with the requirements of their previous lease. What can you do to make them comply? Specifically, we would hke you to force Bowie Resources to resume monitoring our water, both domestic and irrigation, as they aze supposed to do under the lease mitigation measures. They aze supposed to continue monitoring until ten yeazs after the lease expires, in order to determine the effect of subsidence on water quahty and quantity. They claim they were told by the previous lease holder that they ao longer had to monitor water on Stucker Mesa or in Long Draw. Weh, they should have read the lease agreement. We have spoken with them several times over three years and we have run out of patience. We would also h7ce copies of the data collected in the past by Colorado Westmoreland and Cyprus, and analysis, before water monitoring ceased. Further, we would ask you to require Bowie Resources to close down the Orchard Valley Mine and reclaim the land so that we can regain our legal access to our imgation water in Roatcap Creek. We were tricked originally into agreeing to allow them to bury our access road and we want it back. We believe Bowie Resources is trying to avoid paying for reclamation eves though mining has ceased and is no longer economically feasible in the East Roatcap lease area, by keeping the mine "open" with a skeleton crew and hoping to sell it to another unsuspecting party as a working mine. They should not be allowed to get away with this subterfuge. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 requires regulators to deny new permits to mine operators who have outstanding violations and existing environmental problems at other mines. Lack of reclamation is a distinct environmental problem. Therefore we would object to the granting of any new lease to Bowie Resources before they have completed reclamation of the Orchard Valley mine.