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govemment agencies. The only comments received were from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which stated it had no objection to the renewal. A letter addressing adequacy concerns was sent to the operator on November 21, 1994. On December 12, 1994, the operator responded to the letter. All responses and information have been reviewed by the Division for compliance. Description of the Environment The Meeker Area Mines are located about eight miles northeast of Meeker, Colorado. The area is found on the Ninemile Gap and Rattlesnake Mesa USGS quadrangle maps. Elevations in the permit area of the mines range from 6833 feet along Curtis Creek to 8300 feet along the ridgeline east of the Rienau No. 2 Mine portals. The area of the Meeker Area Mines has historically supported a variety of uses such as ranching, homesteading, coal mining, and wildlife habitat. Some historical uses such as homesteading have been replaced by pastureland, and transportation and utility comdors. Many uses such as live- stock grazing, wildlife habitat, and coal mining have occurred in the area for many years. The mines are located along the north-facing slope of a closed topographic basin. This topo- graphic basin is flanked by the Danforth Hills to the north and the Rattlesnake Mesa escarpment to the south. The upland areas are steep to. moderately steep slopes, while the central basin contains gently rolling hills and meadows. Curtis Creek and Aichers Draw have cut deep, steep- sided valleys through Rattlesnake Mesa. The coals of the Meeker Area Mines occur in the Upper Cretaceous Williams Fork Formation. The Williams Fork Formation, along with the underlying Iles Formation and Mancos Shale comprise the Mesaverde Group. Overlying the Mesaverde Group are Quaternary and Recent deposits consisting of alluvial and coarse colluvial material. Lithologically, the Williams Fork Formation consists of a thick series of predominantly non- marine interbedded to laminated sandstones, siltstones, mudstones, shales, carbonaceous shales and abundant coal seams of varying thicknesses. Except for the coal seams, the beds of the Williams Fork Formation are laterally discontinuous. Structurally, the mines are situated at the northern end of the Grand Hogback monocline and along the southern limb of the Danforth Hills highlands, asoutheasterly-trending anticlinal structure associated with the White River uplift to the east. The Danforth Hills anticline borders the property on the north and is asymmetric with gentle dips to the north and much steeper dips on the south flank where it is associated with the Sulfur Creek syncline. The mine is confined to the Sulfur Creek syncline which is asymmetric and doubly plunging minor faulting is present in a subparallel pattern near the axis of the syncline. Stratigraphically, the lowest coal bed mined was the G seam, which occurs approximately 550 feet above the base of the Williams Fork Formation. The bed ranges in thickness from 6 to 22 feet. The FF seam, which is stratigraphically the uppermost coal bed mined, occurs approxi- mately 2200 feet above the base of the Williams Fork Formation. The FF seam ranges in thickness from 7 to 10 feet. The P seam was also included in the mine plan and occurs approximately 1200 feet below the base of the FF seam. 3