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Planning commison notes. Somerset coal by Laura Anderson The coal industry is in goo shape if the mines in Gunniso County are any indication. Oiler tors of two coal mines in Somers came before the Gunnison Count Planning Commission Friday see ing to expand. Their proposals wi also be considered by the Divisio of Minerals and Geology. First was Basil bear, one of t owners of the Bear Coal Compan While not the biggest operation i the North Fork Valley, the Bear C Company is the longest-runnin mine. Begun in 1935, the fourth ge erasion of the Bears now works the mine -and the Bfth generation on its way. companies seeking to :expand 999 The Bear Coal Company re- moves about 900,000 tons of coal d each year from the mountajns that n surround Somerset and employs 49 a_ people. In contrast,'the West Elk. et Coal Company, a division of Arco, y takes three million tons of coal per k_ year from the Somerset area. Coal is Il transported from the North Fork n Valley via train -and there is enough to fill more than 400 trains he per year. While some of the coal y. ends up in Utah, the bulk of it goes n east. Gunnison County contributes oat to the one billion tons of coal that the g United States bums per year, eighty n- percent of which produces electric- al itS'. . ' is As mine consultant Jim Stover told the planning commission, the Bear Coal Company has mined most of the coal from its current permit area. While surface facilities are on -about eight acres of private ground, the coal is actually taken from fed- eral land south of Somerset. The current seam is 1500 (eel below the surface. Stover explained that the com- pany wants to expand its permit area to remove coal under two addi- tional 40-acre parcels. There are no Tenewable-reswres, springs-or water above the requested land. There could be subsidence once the coal is taken out but Stover said that would not be a problem since the land above the mine is "a huge steep mountain." The company estimates that it would take four years to mine all of this new coal. "It's not very often you can bring additional coal reserves out without additional surface land dis- turbance," planning commission member Ken Spann commented. "The only possible surface change is the length of time coal is hauled through Somerset. Does that merit a public hearing?" "Because the hauling was once an issue of contention... 1 think we ought to have a public hearing;' planning commission member Don Crosby responded. The planning commission de- tided to set the. matter for public hearing in February. lncrease4 production sou¢ht - - Another North Fork Valley company will be'subject to a'publit hearing on'~~the'~same'~day:, Walt Wright, manager~of the•Soinerset Mining Company, approached the Gunnison County Planning Com- mission~with~a request lo'ihcrease coal production. ~ "''"' • While the permit for his opera- tion'estimates 750,000 tons~of coal will be~mined each~year,~the'com- panyactually took out 850,000 tons in ]993. It is doing so well that it wants~to purchase new equipment and increase production to9.3'mil- lion tons annually. It would also like the permit to allow it to employ up to 750 people. At present the com- panyhasastaffof92. ~ ~''"~'~ "The impact would~be a few more employees and one more train per week," Jim Stover, also aconsul- tant for the Somerset Mining Company, said. Riverland Industrial Park dis• SY;e4t~ The Gunnison County Planning Commission Friday discussed the sketch plan of (fling two of the Riverland-1r;duslrial Park south of Crested Butte. The developers hope to see a combination of industrial and residential buildings on the property. As proposed, the second and (final phase of Riverland Industrial Park contains 23 lots on 94.73 acres of land. The plan is for about 20 acres, primarily wetlands, drainage and the Slate River, to remain open space deeded to the home owners. ~~• Hearing:that~~thei lots~•would contain individual septic systems, the planning commission members raised concerns about what types of waste might be discharged from in- dustrial operations as well as what the cumulative effect of that many septic systems might be. They asked about access onto Highway ]35 and discussed combining residential and industrial uses. They will continue discussion at another work session next month. Silver Sage sketch Plan aDRrov d The Planning Commission ap- proved the sketch plan For the Silver . Sage Subdivision after adding a number of conditions to it, includ- ingsomethat deal with water rights. The proposed development, which would contain 23 single-family homes justpouth of Crested Butte, now goes before the Gunnison County Commissioner, who will hold a public hearing on it.