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Summary
<br />The Review Process
<br />The permittee, New Castle Energy, Inc. was notified by the Division on
<br />March 26, 1991 of the need to apply for renewal of the existing Coal Ridge
<br />Mine Permit. A renewal application was filed by the permittee on
<br />April 4, 1991 and deemed complete by the Division on April 15, 1991. The
<br />applicant published notice of the application for permit renewal in the
<br />Glenwood Post on April 5, 1991. The Division notified the applicant of
<br />adequacy concerns related to the permit renewal in a letter dated
<br />June 7, 1991. These concerns were addressed by technical revisions to the
<br />permit (Nos. 7, 8 and 9). TR-07 was approved on December 13, 1991; TR-08 was
<br />approved January 14, 1992; and TR-09 was approved on January 10, 1992. An
<br />applicant violator check was made and approved on April 10, 1992. The
<br />applicant violator system was queried and the approval given on
<br />April 10, 1992; April 16, 1992; and November 16, 1992. In the interim, a
<br />succession of operators was finalized on August 14, 1991. The new permittee
<br />is NCIG Financial, Inc.
<br />History of the Permitting Process
<br />Originally, Storm King Mines, Inc. submitted a permit application for the
<br />Coal Ridge No. 1 Mine on March 12, 1984, pursuant to Section 34-33-109 of the
<br />Colorado Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act. The permit application was
<br />deemed complete on April 3, 1984. The Division approved, in part, the Coal
<br />Ridge No. 1 permit application with stipulations for a three year permit term
<br />on November 9, 1985.
<br />In July 1985, Storm King Mines, Inc. underwent a name change to the New Castle
<br />Energy Corporation, Inc. (NCEC).
<br />On November 25, 1987, the Division sent notification to NCEC of the need to
<br />renew its mine permit, and on April 12, 1988, received an application of
<br />renewal of its permit to conduct coal mining. During the next several months,
<br />NCEC attempted to obtain financial support for continued operation as well as
<br />engineering support to resolve numerous adequacy issues identified in earlier
<br />reviews. Their efforts were unsuccessful, so on January 17, 1989 NCEC
<br />submitted to the Division a letter formally requesting renewal of the permit
<br />allowing only reclamation. A reclamation only permit was issued in September
<br />1989. Stipulations 13, 14 and 15, which dealt with reclamation of access
<br />roads, light use exploration roads and regrading of portal areas respectively,
<br />were added to the permit. In addition, Condition 1 which committed NCIG to
<br />backfilling and grading, reseeding and mulching within one year was put into
<br />effect. Six months later, on March 9, 1990, NCEC submitted to the Division an
<br />application for Permit Revision No. 1 to re-activate the mining permit status
<br />and extend the permit term from three to five years. A Mined Land Reclamation
<br />Board decision on December 18, 1990 approved Permit Revision No.l with
<br />Stipulations 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21. Stipulations 16, 19 and 21 remain
<br />active. Stipulation 17, replacement of OW-4L well, was resolved through Minor
<br />Revision k10, in March 1992. Anew well (OW-15) was drilled in its place.
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