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Introduction <br />This document is the proposed decision findings document for Technical Revision No. 46 (TR-46), <br />prepared by the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (Division). TR-46 was submitted by Bowie <br />Resources LLC (BRL), the permittee and operator, for the Bowie No. 1 Mine. In TR-46, BRL is <br />proposing to terminate the quarterly inspection requirement for the reclaimed old coal waste disposal site. <br />The Division is proposing to approve TR-46. <br />The Bowie No. 1 Mine is an underground coal mine located in Delta County, Colorado. Underground <br />mining operations ceased at the Bowie No. 1 Mine in December of 1997, although the train loadout has <br />the capability of being used to ship out coal that is mined from [he Bowie No. 2 Mine. The Bowie No. 1 <br />Mine permit area encompasses 8670 surface acres, 1918 acres which are federally owned and 6752 acres <br />which are privately owned. Disturbed surface acreage for the entire mine site amounts to about 145 acres. <br />The reclaimed old coal waste disposal site is located on federal land that is managed by the Bureau of <br />Land Management (BLM). <br />Ordinarily, a findings document would not be prepared for the proposed decision of a technical revision. <br />However, this findings document has been written specifically for this technical revision in order to <br />document the Division's rationale for the proposed decision. <br />Historical Backeround <br />The Orchard Valley Mine (Bowie No. 1 Mine) permit application was originally submitted on September <br />30, 1977. The permit application was approved by the Mined Land Reclamation Board under the interim <br />program on Apri127, 1978. A modified permit application to comply with the proposed Colorado <br />Permanent Regulatory Program was submitted on June 18, 1979 and revised on February 27, 1981, The <br />Permanent Program Permit No. C-038-81, with 25 stipulations attached, was issued on September 24, <br />1981. <br />Construction of the reclaimed old coal waste disposal site at the Bowie No. 1 Mine began in the summer <br />of 1980 with the salvaging and stockpiling of topsoil. Disposal of coal waste generated from the Bowie <br />No. 1 Mine began at the disposal site shortly after that time. <br />In the adequacy review for the Permanent Program Permit, it was determined that the old coal waste <br />disposal site did not meet all of the compliance requirements of Rule 4.10 for coal waste disposal sites. <br />Therefore, it was ageed by all parties involved that a new coal waste disposal site would be permitted <br />and constructed. [n the meantime, coal refuse could be disposed of at the old coal waste disposal site <br />under the conditions slated in one of the permit stipulations. This unnumbered permit stipulation was <br />included in the original findings document dated August 20, 1981 and was repeated in the Federal Mine <br />Plan Package dated December 3, 1981. The stipulation allowed that, as long as the volume of refuse did <br />not exceed 25,000 cubic yards, only Rule 4.10.4(3) would apply. This rule requires the placement of coal <br />waste in 24 inch thick lifts and compaction of each lift to meet or exceed 90 percent of the maximum dry <br />density. <br />However, if the volume of the coal waste deposited at the old coal waste disposal site exceeded 25,000 <br />cubic yards, then all of the requirements of Rule 4.10 would apply. These requirements include, among <br />others, that there be a coal waste pile underdrain, that the coal waste be placed in lifts no more than 24 <br />inches thick, that each lift be compacted to 90 percent of the maximum dry density, that the coal waste <br />pile outslope not be steeper than 2H:1 V, that the coal waste disposal pile achieve a minimum static safety <br />