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Summary THE REVIEW PROCESS Sun Coal Company has applied fora renewal of their valid, existing permit under CRS 34-33-109(7). The permit is for the Meadows No. 1 mine located approximately five miles southwest of Milner, in Routt County, Colorado. The permit area is located in portions of Sections 11, 14, 23, 24, 25, and 26, T6N, R87W of the 6th P.M. The Meadows No. 1 mine has been in existence since April 1977. Mining operations were suspended in February 1981. Sun Coal Co. originally received a permit (No. 76-61) from the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board on April 22, 1977. They operated under that permit until August 9, 1983 when the permanent program permit (C-81-029) was granted. Sun Coal Co. wishes to renew permit C-81-029 which expired on August 9, 1988. DESCRIPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT The Meadows No. 1 mine is located between elevations of 6500 and 7800 feet. The mine was composed of two operational areas--that of the strip pit located at about 7600 feet in elevation, and the facilities and loadout area located at about 6600 feet. The Yampa River flows through the loadout and facilities area from east to west. The pit area was located at a ridge line approximately two miles south of the loadout and facilities area. A haul road, 2.8 miles in length, connects these areas. The strata in the location of the pit dip slightly more than the slope of the surface topography. Four recognized bedrock formations outcrop or are expressed in the vicinity of the mine. In descending order, they are the Lewis Shale Formation, the Williams Fork Formation, and Iles Formation of the Mesaverde group, and the Mancos shale (see figure 2). Unconsolidated alluvial deposits are found in the valley of the Yampa River, and in a small area of Coal View Gulch, which runs from south to north to the east of the mine. The bedrock units in the vicinity of the pit area of the mine dip from 13 to 20 degrees to the west. Within the mining area the Iles Formation is the major formation, being visibly expressed as the outcropping of the Trout Creek sandstone to the west of the mining area, and the outcropping of the Blacksmith coal seam immediately east of the mining area. When mining, the Meadows No. 1 mine removed the Pinnacle coal seam, which is located approximately 160 feet above the Blacksmith seam mentioned. Both seams are located completely within the Iles Formation. A number of faults have been located in the general area of the mine. Fault axes trend west-northwest to east-southeast, and probably resulted from the folding of strata in the vicinity. The Tow Creek anticline is located several miles to the east of the mine, while the Hayden synclinal axis is located approximately ten miles to the west. -3-