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SUMMARY <br />The Review Process, Description of the Environment <br />and <br />Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plan <br />The Review Process <br />Twentymile Coal Company (TCC), a subsidiary of Cyprus Western Coal <br />Equipment Company has submitted a permit revision application for the <br />Foidel Creek Mine, an existing underground coal mine located near Oak <br />Creek, Colorado. <br />The existing surface facilities are located within a strip pit excavated <br />by Colorado Yampa Coal Company's (CYCC) adjacent surface mining operation <br />(CYCC is also a subsidiary of Cyprus Western Coal Equipment Company <br />(CWCC)). Operations at Foidel Creek Mine were initiated after the <br />Division approved a five-year pilot phase mining plan as a revision to <br />CYCC's Permit C-79-177 in May, 1983. Subsequently, the underground mine <br />operated by Twentymile Coal Company was administratively separated from <br />the surface mine operated by Colorado Yampa Coal Company. Permit <br />C-82-056 was issued to TCC for the Foidel Creek Mine pilot phase. <br />The revision application proposes significant expansion of the existing <br />underground operation and requests a life of mine permit area of over <br />13,000 acres. The application was submitted October 14, 1985 and deemed <br />complete October 28, 1985. Notice of application was published by the <br />applicant in the Steamboat Pilot beginning November 14, 1985, and ending <br />December 5, 1985. <br />A preliminary adequacy letter conveying concerns identified by Mined Land <br />Reclamation Division (the Division) staff, the Office of Surface Mining <br />(OSM) and the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) was sent to the <br />applicant on January, 1986. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) comments on <br />the Resource Recovery and Protection Plan were forwarded to the applicant <br />on February 14, 1986. Concerns identified by the Division after <br />reviewing TCC responses to the preliminary adequacy letter were conveyed <br />to the applicant in letters of April 14, 1986, and June 13, 1986. <br />Due to the need for additional time to resolve a number of complex <br />technical issues, the applicant requested an extension of the 180 day <br />review period. The request was approved by the Division, and notice of <br />the extension was published in the May 8 and May 15, 1986, issues of the <br />Steamboat Pilot. Additional information regarding hydrologic impacts and <br />alluvial valley floors (AVFs) submitted subsequently by the applicant has <br />allowed the Division to prepare this decision document. <br />-4- <br />