Laserfiche WebLink
Summary <br />The Review Process <br />Westem Fuels-Colorado, a Limited Liability Company, purchased the Nucla and Nucla East Mines <br />from Peabody Coal Company and renamed them the New Horizon Mine 1 and 2 respectively. The <br />transfer of ownership and succession of operator was completed on May 15, 1992. Both mines aze <br />located in Montrose County, and this permit revision is for Mine 2. <br />The original permit for C-81-008 was submitted by Peabody on January 9, 1981 and was approved <br />by the Division on April 14, 1983. The permit was subsequently renewed for an additional 5 yeaz <br />term by the Division in May of 1988. On Apri129, 1988, Peabody submitted a Permit Revision to <br />add an additiona1220 acres to the permit (formerly Nucla East, now New Horizon Mine 2). This <br />revision was approved on February 28, 1989. On Apri126, 1993, the Division approved the second <br />additional five-yeaz renewal for Western Fuels-Colorado with a stipulation that a permit revision be <br />submitted to sepazate the permit application into two sepazate documents since the two mines were <br />not contiguous. The stipulation was satisfied with the submission of PR-03 and the permit was <br />approved on June 1, 1994. <br />On April 22, 1996, the Division received an application for a permit revision, PR-04, to add an <br />additional 100.7 acres to the New Horizon Mine 2 azea.. Numerous issues were resolved on <br />September 24, 1996, and the revision was approved and became final on December 9, 1996. <br />On September 26, 1997, the Division received an application to renew a valid existing permit to <br />conduct coal mining in Colorado. All issues addressed in the adequacy reviews were resolved and <br />the permit renewal became final on April 26, 1998. <br />On September 14, 1999, the Division received an application for a permit revision, PR-O5, to add <br />an additiona1476 acres to the New Horizon Mine 2 area. The application was found to be complete <br />on September 20, 1999. The operator published a public notice of the pending permit revision <br />application in the local San Miguel Basin newspaper for 4 consecutive weeks commencing on , <br />November 11, 1999, and ending on December 2, 1999. A preliminary adequacy review of the permit <br />revision was issued on November 18, 1999. Comments were received and additional adequacy <br />issues were sent on January 28, 2000, and April 14, 2000. The proposed decision for approval was <br />issued on Apri124, 2000. <br />Description of the Environment <br />Introduction <br />The New Horizon Mine 1 permit azea encompasses approximately 327 acres and has been reclaimed <br />to pasture land and wildlife habitat. The permit document associated with this mine is a reclamation <br />only permit and essentially has not changed since it was approved in 1994. There are no plans for <br />the land to be further disturbed. <br />2 <br />