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news <br />BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT • MONTROSE DI5TRIC7 OFFICE <br />FEB 17 1998 <br />Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area, 2505 S. Townsend Ave, Montrose, Colorado 81401 IMMEDIATELY <br />Lynn Lewis <br />UBRA (970) 240-5305 <br />USFS AND BLM CONSIDERS A COAL LEASE APPLICATION NEAR SOMERSET <br />Allan Belt of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced that the BLM <br />received a coal lease application from Oxbow Mining, !nc. The purpose of the application is to <br />lease and mine federal coal reserves near Somerset, Colorado. The coal reserves on the Elk <br />Creek Tract are managed by BLM's Montrose District Office. Some of the surface of the lease <br />application area is managed by the US Forest Service (USFS), Paonia Ranger District and the <br />BLM, Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area and a portion of the surface is privately owned. The <br />lease application area is located in portions of T.12S., R.90W., 6th PM, Sections 31 and 32, <br />T.12S., R.91 W., 6th PM, Sections 35 and 36, T.13S., R.90W., 6th PM, Sections 5 and 6, and <br />T.13S., R.91W., 6th PM, Sections 1, 2, and 12. The Elk Creek Tract contains approximately <br />3,862 acres in Delta and Gunnison Counties, Colorado. The lands are northeast of Somerset, <br />Colorado and are situated in the Bear, Elk and Hubbard Creek drainages. The coal would be <br />mined by underground mining methods from a portal to be constructed on the applicant's fee <br />land. <br />The USFS and BLM will prepare an environmental assessment (EA) to evaluate the <br />impacts of mining and leasing the coal and to develop mitigating measures to be included as <br />stipulations in the event a lease is issued. Allan Belt, Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area <br />Manager, and Ray Kingston, Paonia District Ranger invites the public to submit concerns and <br />issues that should be addressed in the EA. People with comments should write to the BLM, <br />Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area Office, 2505 South Townsend, Montrose, CO 81401 or write <br />to the USFS, Paonia Ranger District, PO Box 1030, Paonia, CO 81428. Comments will be <br />accepted until March 20, 1998. For more information, call Lynn Lewis in Montrose at (970) 240- <br />5305 or Mike Ward in Paonia at (970) 527-4131. <br />--- BLM --- <br /> <br />