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ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT WEST ELK COAL COMPANY MT. GUNNISON MINE MINING PLAN MODIFICATION SEPTEMBER, 1985 • 1. Purpose and Need West Elk Coal Company (WECC) submitted a permit application package (PAP) Involving the mining of Federal Coal at the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine. Pursuant to 30 CFR 746.14, the Secretary of the Interior must approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove the mining plan modification for the mining of the Federal coal as proposed in the PAP. This document assesses the environmental effects of the proposed mining and reclamation operations and alternatives to the proposed action. The PAP was submitted on February 22, 1985, to the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division (MLRD) as a revision to permit application number C-007-80 and to the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) on February 28, 1985. The Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine is located in Gunnison County, Colorado, 1 mile east of Somerset. The Mt. GunnlSOn No. 1 mine has been operating since 1981 and was permitted under the approved Colorado permanent regulatory program in July, 19B1. The previously approved permit area contains approximately 2,475 acres, of which 2,375 acres were leased Federal coal. The mining plan for the Mt. Gunnison No. 1 mine was originally approved in July, 1981. Since the original approval of the mining plan, there has been one mining plan modification which was approved in August, 1985. The proposed permit revision area contains approximately 1,765 acres, of which 1,450 acres are in Federal coal lease C-1362. Surface ownership in the permit revision area is primarily Federal, administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service with some privately owned surface. This document assesses the environmental effects that will result from the approval, approval with conditions, or disapproval of the mining plan modification associated with the permit revision application. WECC has proposed to begin mining in lease C-1362 up to the Minnesota Creek/North Fork of the Gunnison drainage divide. Mining operations will not disturb lands south of the divide. The underground mining operation principally will utilize room and pillar mining methods. The F coal seam will be mined at a production rate of approximately 2.8 million tons per year. All mining and reclamation operations are scheduled to cease around the year 2020. -1