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Introduction <br />On March 21, 1983 the Mined Land Reclamation Division issued Findings of <br />Compliance and a Proposed Decision to approve a permit for Colorado <br />Westmoreland's Orchard Valley Mine. The Permit, Number C-038-83, was <br />subsequently issued on April 20, 1983. <br />A technical revision to the permit was submitted by CWI which was deemed <br />complete by MLRD on July 3, 1984. The revision requests the addition of 17.5 <br />acres of additional coal reserves within Federal Lease C-37210. The coal is <br />needed to meet current production needs since three of the four Orchard Valley <br />Mine production sections are experiencing difficult mining and poor coal <br />quality. The technical revision proposes to add 42.5 acres to the permit area <br />(17.5 acres of coal, 25 acres due to subsidence angle of draw). The Division <br />issued a proposed decision to approve this technical revision on July 13, 1984. <br />The legal description of the lands in question are: <br />S1/2 SE1/4 SEl/4 SW1/4, SW1/4 SW1/4 SW1/4 SEl/4, Section 8; Wl/2 W1/2 NW <br />1/4 NE1/4, NE1/4 NEl/4 NW1/4, Nl/2 S1/2 NE1/4 NW1/4, S1/2 NW1/4 NE1/4 <br />NW1/4 Section 17, T13S, R91W, of the 6th P.M. <br />The Division classified the change as a technical revision since by Rule <br />1.04(136) a technical revision is an incidental permit boundary revision which <br />shall not cause a significant alteration in the operator's reclamation plan. <br />The addition of 42.5 acres is small in comparison to the existing 2,283.5 acre <br />CWI permit area. Also, the revision does not propose any surface facilities <br />that would change the reclamation plan, nor any additional adverse <br />environmental impacts, including any that may affect the hydrology. The <br />existing CWI permit application (file C-038-83) contained environmental <br />baseline and impact information that included the area considered in this <br />revision. <br />The primary purpose of this addendum to our Findings of Compliance <br />Document is at the request of the Office of Surface Mining to facilitate the <br />mine plan approval process. In order for OSM to issue approval to mine <br />previously unleased Federal Coal, they must have verified in writing that all <br />of the findings required under SMCRA have been made. This document herein <br />incorporates MLRD's Findings of Compliance Document of March 21, 1983 for the <br />Orchard Valley Mine and addresses whether any change in Findings of Compliance <br />was made as the result of this technical revision. <br />I. Legal, Fiancial, and Compliance Information <br />The status of this section did not change as the result of the <br />revision. The operation is in compliance. <br />II. Land Use <br />The approved post-mining land use was not changed or affected by this <br />revision. The operation is in compliance. <br />