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Summary <br />The Review Process <br />Description of the Environment and <br />the Reclamation Plan <br />The Review Process <br />On February 11, 1981, Wyoming Fuel Company, a division of Kansas-Nebraska <br />Natural Gas Company, filed an application with the Colorado Division of Mined <br />Land Reclamation and the federal Office of Surface Mining to continue and <br />expand its existing operations at the Canadian Strip Mine site. Permit <br />C-81-026 was issued to the Wyoming Fuel Company for the Canadian Strip Mine on <br />December 1, 1981. <br />On June 28, 1982, the Division received a notice of temporary cessation of <br />mining activities from the Wyoming Fuel Company. No coal has been mined at <br />the mine since that time. <br />In accordance with Rule 2.08.5 of the Regulations, the Division notified <br />Wyoming Fuel Company that a permit renewal application was required to be <br />submitted to the Division no later than June 1, 1986. On June 3, 1986, the <br />Division received a permit renewal application which was deemed incomplete on <br />June 4, 1986, <br />On July 18, 1986 the Division received a second permit renewal application <br />which was found to be complete on August 7, 1986. A preliminary adegaucy <br />review was completed by the Division on September 30, 1986. The <br />correspondence of October 27 and November 24, 1986 in response to the adequacy <br />review resolved all of the Division's concerns raised during the renewal <br />process. <br />Description of the Environment <br />The Canadian Strip Mine is located in an intermontane basin known as North <br />Park in northwestern Colorado. <br />Climate in the vicinity of the Canadian Strip Mine is characterized as <br />semi-arid with cool summers, cold winters, low precipitation and a short <br />growing season. Average annual precipitation is 10 inches, with half of this <br />occurring as snowfall in amounts averaging 51 inches per year. Winds are <br />generally from the west which produces a rainshadow effect and dry conditions <br />at the location of the mine relative to the mountain range to the west. The <br />growing season is short with an average annual frost-free period of 40 days. <br />Geology <br />The North Park region has been characterized as abroad synclinal basin in <br />which are numerous local synclinal/anticline structures. Recent mining has <br />taken place in the eastern portion of North Park in an area of tightly <br />compressed anticlinal/synclinal features. <br />3 <br />