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<br />, -. <br />Eastside <br />hoping <br />to reopen <br />coal mine <br />By JOHN STROUD <br />Past staff writer <br />SILT -Eastside Coal Co. <br />wants to reopen its coal mine in <br />Harvey Gap soon, but questions <br />remain regarding the status of <br />Eastside's Gazfield County min- <br />. ing permit and future plans for ex- <br />panding mine operations. <br />Eastside has stated W the coun- <br />ty that it believes it has apre-ex- <br />isting right to mine up to 7,000 <br />tons of coal per year at.the mine <br />without obtaining a new permit. <br />The county has not taken a posi- <br />tion yet as to whether that right <br />does exist. <br />"We do plan to reopen the mine , <br />in the near future;' Eastside Gen- <br />eral Manager Stephen Self said. <br />And plans are to expand the mine <br />to a production level of 200,000 <br />tons per year in 1991, he said. <br />Although Eastside doesn't <br />deny it needs a new permit to <br />reach that level, it believes it has a <br />right to begin Jower-level mining <br />without getting a new permit, ac- <br />cording to a Feb: 15 letter from <br />.Eastside auomey Jim Lochhead to <br />county Aitomey Don DeFord. <br />"All mining operations on• the <br />... property have been operating <br />legally ... as apre-existing, non- <br />conforming use;'the letter-said. <br />"Eastside Coal Company would <br />agree that the mine cannot operate <br />at any greater levels of operation <br />without aspecial-use pemtit." <br />Eastside's county special-use <br />permit was allowed to expire on <br />March 18, 1990, following man- <br />agerial problems at the mine that <br />resulted in financial problems in- <br />cluding miners' paychecks bounc- . <br />ing. Criminal check fraud charges.. <br />were eventually brought against <br />former company official J,B: <br />Davis, whose Arizona firm, Supe- <br />rior Western Corp., was managing <br />the mine at the time. He is in cus- <br />tody in Arizona on other charges <br />and has not yet been prosecuted in <br />Garfield County. <br />_ ' . F.as[si~e nnw arm~Pc ~hat_nvi_ _ - <br />