GENERAL49126 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Summa ry The Review Process New Castle Energy Corporation has applied fora renewal of permit allowing reclamation only at the Coal Ridge No. 1 Mine. The mine is located in Garfield County approximately 7 miles west of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The original mine plan area encompassed over 5,900 acres of which 627 acres were eventually included in the permit area. Of this area, 81 acres were actually disturbed. Review Process Originally, Storm King Mines, Inc. submitted a permit application for the Coal ~, Ridge No. 1 Mine on 14arch 12, 1984 pursuant to Section 34-33-109 of the Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act. The permit application was deemed complete on April 3, 1984. The application was reviewed following completeness, and an adequacy letter was sent out on June 4, 1984. Resolution of the identified deficiencies was required in order for the Division to make determinations of compliance with the Act. Subsequently, the Division and the applicant corresponded several times, and the final responses were incorporated into the permit application. As a result, the review process was adequately completed, and the Division approved, in-part, the Coal Ridge No. 1 permit application with stipulations fora three year permit term on November 9, 1985. In July 1985, Storm King Mines, Inc. underwent a name change to the New Castle Energy Corporation, Inc. (NCEC). On November 25, 1987, the Division sent notification to NCEC for permit renewal, and on April 12, 1987, received an application for renewal of its permit to conduct coal mining. During the next several months, NCEC attempted to obtain financial support for continued operation as well as engineering support to resolve numerous adequacy issues identified in earlier reviews. Their efforts were unsuccessful, so on January 17, 1989 NCEC submitted to the Division a letter formally requesting renewal of the permit allowing only reclamation. This Findings Document, therefore, will utilize only those "r portions of the original permit, subsequent technical revisions and the renewal application that pertain to the reclamation of the Coal Ridge No. 1 Mine site. Description of the Environment The Coal Ridge No. 1 Mine was to extract coal from the lower portion of the Williams Fork Formation. The mine is located along the Grand Hogback Mono cline approximately 7 miles west of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The Grand Hogback trends east-southeast in the vicinity of the proposed mine with the rock strata dipping to the south-southwest into the Piceance_B.asi.n_at an_ _ average of 6(i degrees. _4_ T7 ~ lti~.- v~d . InJ~~ 6u ~o 1,, Y`ti..J b~~,n. ~`G~ao'~