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Summary The Review Process Twentymile Coal Company (TCC), a subsidiary of RAG American Coal Company, submitted an application for a permit revision application for the Foidel Creek Mine. The file number of this permit revision application is PR-06. The Foidel Creek Mine is exclusively an underground coal mining operation located approximately 22 miles southwest of Steamboat Springs, Colorado in Routt County. Permit No. C-82-056 was issued on May 23, 1983, and has been renewed every five years since then. TCC submitted a complete application for permit revision PR-06 on June 27, 2003. The application proposes to continue mining in the Northern Mining District of the mine for an additional two years. TCC published a notice of the application in the Steamboat Pilot four consecutive weeks from July 27, 2003 through August 17, 2003. No objections regarding the application were received. The only comments the Division received were letters from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFW) and the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). The letter from USFW requested a report on previous ponding over subsided longwall panels at the mine. The Division provided USFW the report, including excerpts from TCC's annual hydrology report. USFW returned comments indicating the mining proposed in PR-06 requires no further consultation and suggested the Division notify the USFW when mining permanently ceases at the Foidel Creek Mine so the need for consultation can be re-evaluated. The letter from the SHPO indicates the proposed permit revision does not require further cultural resource work and provides concurrence for the project to proceed. The Division forwarded all comments to the mine operator. The applicant violator system (AVS) was queried on Mazch 29, 2004. In regard to compliance history, the recommendation of the system was to issue this permit revision. A follow-up AVS query on May 20, 2004 also resulted in a recommendation to issue this revision. On September 4, 2003, the Division sent adequacy questions to TCC regarding updating ownership and control information, hydrologic impacts of the proposed mining, and the status of a coal lease. The Division sent additional adequacy questions to TCC regarding permit pages needing updating. These adequacy comments were in a letter dated February 12, 2004 and in a series of approximately 21 memos faxed between March 24 and May 12, 2004. TCC submitted adequate responses to the Division's comments on Mazch 18, Mazch 31, April 30, and May 20, 2004. The Mazch 18 responses included a reduction in the number of longwall panels to bemined in PR-06. These responses resolved all adequacy concerns; therefore, the Division proposes to approve the revision application. Publication of this proposed decision initiates a thirty day public comment period. Provided there aze no objections to the decision, it becomes final at the close of the comment period. Description of the Environment The Foidel Creek Mine is located approximately 22 miles southwest of Steamboat Springs, in Routt County, Colorado. The permit area varies in elevation from 6,600' to 7,500' with the portal openings at 6,885' along Foidel Creek, Generally, the topography consists of gently rolling hills, dip slopes and cliff outcrops. Flatter topography is evident in the valleys of the major streams draining the azea (Fish Creek and Foidel Creek), as ~~~el] as along the gentle dip slopes. Prominent cliffs have formed where massive sandstone units outcrop. Coal is presently, and has historically been, mined under other approved permits