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Page Three <br />Letter to Mr. David C. Shelton <br />Re: Kerr Coal Permit Application <br />July 31, 1980 <br />greater levels of disturbance. Mining will simply proceed <br />logically into the adjacent newly acquired Federal Coal <br />Lease. No new railroad transportation or support facilities <br />will be required. On the other hand, delay in the approval <br />of the permit application will have devastating repercussions <br />on the community and the prospects for successful reclamation <br />of previously disturbed areas. <br />Both OSM and the State have significant famil- <br />iarity with on-going operations of Kerr Coal. The MLRB <br />has evaluated the Kerr Coal operation thoroughly in the <br />course of numerous permit and permit amendment applica- <br />tions over the past several years. Since much of the pre- <br />sent application covers on-going operations which have been <br />scrutinized previously under the Interim Regulations and <br />prior state law, it is hoped that past familiarity will <br />allow the review to progress swiftly. Further, a thorough <br />environmental analysis of the new federal lease area has <br />been done and is set forth in the Environmental Assessment <br />Report, dated November 14, 1979, prepared by the Bureau of <br />Land Management in connection with the issuance of Lease <br />C-22777. <br />• We hope that all of these factors -- the critical <br />need for reserves to keep the Kerr Coal mine in operation, <br />the Secretary's commitment to respond to the production <br />dilemma of Kerr Coal as evidenced by the issuance of the <br />Emergency Coal Lease, regulatory familiarity with the <br />operations and proposed mining plan and significant prior <br />environmental impacts -- will enable you to expeditiously <br />review and act upon the within application. <br />We would like to emphasize in particular that <br />Kerr Coal seeks a permit from the MLRB under the terms of <br />the Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act of 1979. <br />It is understood that the regulations implementing this <br />legislation remain in a state of some flux. Nevertheless, <br />the Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act was effective on <br />July 1, 1979, and superseded the prior Mined Land Recla- <br />mation Act of 1976 with regard to surface coal mining <br />operations. Ploreover, it is our understanding that ap- <br />propriate regulations implementing the new legislation <br />will shortly become final. In any event, Kerr Coal has <br />included in the permit application a cross-referenced in- <br />dex demonstrating those portions of the permit application <br /> <br />