GENERAL48106

• Permit No: C1981038
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 7/30/1993
• Doc Name: PROPOSED DECISION & FINDINGS OF COMPLIANCE FOR PR3
• Permit Index Doc Type: FINDINGS
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

On November 5, 1987, Colorado Westmoreland Inc.'s application for renewal of a
valid and existing permit to conduct coal mining operations, Permit No.
C-038-83, was deemed complete. The Division published its proposed decision
to approve the revision with ten stipulations on August 4, 1988, and amended
the permit decision of March 21, 1983 by renumbering the permit as C-81-038 to
ensure consistency within the MLRD files. Permit C-81-038 was issued by the
Division on July 21, 1988. This date was in error; the permit issuance should
have been back-dated to April 20, 1988. This situation will be remedied by
back dating the 1993 permit renewal issuance document to April 20, 1993,
thereby designating a five-year permit expiration date of April 20, 1998.
The Division issued a decision on August 10, 1989 to approve the transfer of
mining permit C-81-038 from Colorado Westmoreland Inc. to Cyprus Orchard
Valley Coal Corporation.
On May 17, 1993, the Division approved Technical Revision No. 22, which
incorporated sixty additional acres into the Orchard Valley Mine permit area
on the west boundary. This incidental boundary change was approved to modify
the permit area boundary such that it would encompass angle of draw, projected
to the surface from mine workings proposed for the coal lease COC-37210M
boundary modification approved by BLM on May 21, 1993.
On January 22, 1993, Cyprus Orchard Valley Coal Company's application for
Permit Renewal No. 2 was deemed complete. The Division's comments on the
renewal application were summarized in the Preliminary Adequacy Review letter
of March 19, 1993. COVCC's adequacy responses were received by the Division
on June 4, 1993. Responses were in the form of commitments and a technical
revision. Details of these responses can be found within the Permit Renewal
No. 2 and Technical Revision No. 23 files at the Division office. The
Division issued its proposed decision to approve Permit Renewal No. 2 with
seven stipulations, and an updated Findings of Compliance, on July 23, 1993.
On April 28, 1993, COVCC submitted a permit revision application (deemed
Permit Revision No. 3> to incorporate an additional 510 acres into the permit
area. This area encompassed newly acquired Coal Lease COC-53356. The
application was deemed complete.on May :6, .1993,. Preliminary adequacy comments
were sent to COVCC on July 22, 1993. The operator's response to these
comments was hand delivered to the Division on July 23, 1993. The response
was determined to be inadequate, but in order to meet time constraints for
mining sequence related to PR-03, the Division approved PR-03 with
stipulations to correct these inadequacies. The PR-03 proposed decision to
approve the application with ten stipulations was issued on July 30, 1993.
This document contains the "Proposed Decision to Approve the PR-03 Permit
Application," a description of the environment affected by the mining
operation and the reclamation plan, and the Division's written findings of
compliance as required by the Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act.
Detailed information concerning the review process is on file at the Division
offices; legal requirements can be found in the Act and Regulations of the
Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal Mining. All rules referenced
in this document are contained within the Regulations. Detailed information
about the proposed mining and reclamation operation can be found in the permit
application on file (File No. C-038-83) in the public record maintained by the
Division, located in Room 215, Centennial Building, 1313 Sherman Street,
-8-