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On June l2, 2001 the Division received a request for more information from the Spanish Peaks- Purgatoire River Soil Conservation Service. The Division provided this additional information on June 15. No further comments were received from this agency. On June 29, the USFWS provided a list of protected, proposed, and candidate species for listing on the Threatened and Endangered Species list. The Division of Wildlife did not comment on the proposed revision. On July 5, 2001, the Division forwarded the first adequacy review letter to the applicant. Adequacy responses and proof of publication of the required public notice was received by the Division on August 2, 2001. Additional adequacy review iterations were conducted between August 3 and September 14, 200E On September 5, 2001 the Division forwarded a report to SHPO titled The Loretcito Canyon Mine, Addendum Report on the Sarver in the Valley Floor and Testing of Two Sites, A Clnss /// Culnu•al Resources Report, Las Animas County, Colorado. The SHPO indicated on September l4, 2001, the project could proceed based on plans to avoid the final four sites that are eligible or need additional testing. A letter stating the same was received by the Division on September l9, 2001. Another query ofthe Applicant Violator System (AVS) was conducted on the applicant, Lorencito Coal Company, on September 13, 2001. Both the system and the OSMRE returned CONDITIONAL ISSUE recommendations. On September l9, 2001, the Division received final permit materials from the applicant. All issues identified during the review were determined adequate. Descri~ttion of the Environment General Area The Lorencito Canyon mine is situated near the center of the Raton Basin, southeast of the town of Weston, Colorado. The County Map Topographic Series, Las Animas County, Colorado, sheet 4 of 7, published by the United States Geological Survey, depicts the greater mine area. Lands in this area are a small part of the larger Park Plateau, a portion of the Great Plains physiographic province, consisting of dissected highlands that separate the High Plains to the east from the Rocky Mountains to the west. The major structural feature of the region of the mine area is the Raton Basin, a broad, asymmetric synclinal basin with its axis trending north-south. Rock units deposited during the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic Era and during the Paleocene period of the Cenozoic Era are exposed throughout the basin due to uplift and subsequent erosion. Coal seams in the Vermejo Formation and the Raton Formation are exposed at various locations throughout the basin. Coal mining is no newcomer to the region, as mining has been conducted since the 1850's, mostly in underground mines faced-up into coal seam outcrops in the valleys. Coal quality is