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<br />Summarv <br />Twentymile Coal Company (TCC), a subsidiary of Cyprus Western Coal Equipment <br />Company (CWCEC), submitted a permit renewal application (RN-02) for the Foidel <br />Creek Mine on November 18, 1992. The Foidel Creek Mine is an underground <br />operation located approximately 22 miles southwest of Steamboat Springs, <br />Colorado in Routt County. <br />The existing surface facilities are located in, and adjacent to, a strip pit <br />excavated by Colorado Yampa Coal Company's (CYCC) surface mining operation. <br />Operations at Foidel Creek Mine were initiated after the Division approved a <br />five-year pilot phase mining plan ae a revision to CYCC's Permit C-79-177 in <br />May, 1983. Subsequently, the underground mine operated by Twentymile Coal <br />Company was administratively separated from the surface mine operated by CYCC. <br />Permit C-82-056 was issued to TCC for the Foidel Creek Mine pilot phase. <br />other facilities within the permit area but separate from the main portal <br />facility area include the Fieh Creek Borehole (FCB) facility and the Fieh <br />Creek Tipple (FCT) facility. The FCB is located on Fieh Creek approximately 2 <br />miles northwest of the main facility area. It consists of 2 dewatering <br />boreholes, a ventilation shaft, 3 treatment ponds, associated roads, a <br />substation, and a utility building. The FCT facility ie located approximately <br />5 miles northeast of the main portal area, about 8 miles downstream from the <br />FCB facility. It was originally permitted separately under permit # C-81-036 <br />but since has been incorporated into the Foidel Creek permit # C-82-056. It <br />consists of a rail loadout, crushing and screening equipment, conveyors, <br />stockpile areas, and a sediment control system of ditches and one pond. The <br />FCT facility has been and is currently inactive ae of the writing of this <br />document in June of 1993. <br />The revision application (PR-02) entailed expanding the affected area of the <br />permit by about 5 percent in the southwest section of the current permit area. <br />It also "squared up" the southeastern portion of the permit boundary near the <br />main facility. The significant technical aspect of this revision was the <br />proposed undermining of a county road (#27), a power line, telephone lines, a <br />dwelling, and the Twentymile Sandstone cliff outcrop. Longwall mining in this <br />area may produce surface subsidence of up to 5 feet. Details of the <br />subsidence predictions can be found in the appropriate sections of this <br />document and the permit document. <br />The permit renewal application (RN-02) was submitted in November of 1992 to <br />extend the currently approved permit for another 5 year permit term. No <br />significant permitting action was associated or submitted in conjunction with <br />the renewal process. Recently completed permitting actions such as permit <br />revision (PR-02) and the bond calculation ae part of the midterm review have <br />satiefactorlly addressed major issues at the site. The Division forwarded <br />adequacy comments to the operator on March 10, 1993 and received responses on <br />May 13, 1993 from TCC. Based on those responses the Division will stipulate <br />the approval of the permit renewal (RN-02) as outlined in the Stipulation <br />section of this document. <br />Descriution of the Environment <br />The Foidel Creek Mine ie located approximately twenty-two miles southwest of <br />Steamboat Springs, in Routt County, Colorado. The permit area varies in <br />elevation from 6,600' to 7,500' with the portal openings at 6,885' along <br />Foidel Creek. Generally, the topography consists of gently rolling hills, dip <br />elopes and cliff outcrops. Flatter topography ie evident in the valleys of <br />the major streams draining the area (Fish Creek and Foidel Creek)as well as <br />along the gentle dip elopes. Prominent cliffs have formed where massive <br />sandstone unite outcrop. Coal has historically been mined by surface methods <br />on the dip elopes where overburden thickness allows for economic extraction. <br />This type of mining has been and ie currently taking place within Twentymile <br />Park around its margins or where folding has elevated a major coal seam within <br />