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Seneca Coal Company published public notice of its application for permit renewal in the <br />Steamboat Pilot during four consecutive weeks, beginning February 17, 2002. No comments <br />regazding this permit renewal were received by the Division as a result of the public notice. <br />The Applicant Violator System (AVS) was queried on August 30, 2001 and again on October 11, <br />2002. The Division recommends an "issue" for the permit renewal. <br />On October 22, 2001, the Division submitted to SCC an adequacy review of the renewal <br />application. The requested information was received by the Division on January 9, 2002 and <br />September 3, 2002. The changes to the permit included updated Owner, Officer, and Director <br />information for Peabody Holding Company, Inc., minor changes in the postmining land use plan, <br />and a revised backfilling and grading schedule. This updated information was submitted as <br />Technical Revision No. 34 and was approved on October 11, 2002. <br />Technical Revision No. 35 (TR-35) was submitted on February 1, 2002 to address an adequacy <br />review comment regarding the permanence of existing stock ponds at the mine site. Because <br />there aze outstanding adequacy issues, the proposed decision deadline for TR-35 has been <br />extended to January 13, 2003. TR-35 addresses as-built drawings and certifications for stock <br />ponds at the Seneca II Mine. At this time and until TR-35 is approved, all of the stock ponds <br />aze considered to be temporary structures. The cost estimate for bond liability has been revised <br />to include reclamation costs for all existing stock ponds. Upon approval of TR-35 some of the <br />existing stock ponds maybe approved as permanent structures. The bond liability estimate will <br />be adjusted accordingly to remove reclamation costs associated with any of these structures that <br />may remain as permanent features. <br />Description of the Environment <br />The Seneca II Mine is located in northwest Colorado, approximately nine miles southeast of <br />Hayden in Routt County. The Seneca II Mine lies 7 miles east of the Seneca IT-W Mine, Permit <br />No. C-82-057, and 4 miles east of the Yoast Mine, Permit No. C-94-082. See Figure 1 for <br />further detail. The mining azea can be found on the Milner Quadrangle 7.5 Minute Series Map. <br />Elevations at the mine site range from 6,600 feet to 8,100 feet above mean sea level. During <br />active mining operations, the coal from the Seneca II Mine was hauled over county and private <br />roadways by private a hauler to the Hayden Station Power Plant operated by Public Service of <br />Colorado. Operations at the permitted mining azea will involve reclamation activities only, <br />during the new permit term. <br />Geology and Topography <br />The Seneca II Mine is located on the Tow Creek anticline, a local structure within the regional <br />Sand Wash structural basin. The local stratigraphic sequence, in ascending order, is the Mancos <br />Shale; the Mesaverde group, which maybe subdivided into the Iles and Williams Fork <br />Formations; the Lewis Shale; and the Lance Formation, all of which aze upper Cretaceous in age. <br />Overlying the Lance Formation are the Tertiary Fort Union and Wasatch Formations. <br />3 <br />