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In early 1981, the Bear Coal Company requested from ARCO the right of <br />• access into an adjacent property where surface facilities will be <br />relocated for the Bear No. 3 Portals. A surface and mineral lease has <br />been obtained from Anchor Coal Company for surface facility relocation <br />and actual mining. It was assumed that there would be no difficulty in <br />obtaining the access rights from ARCO; however, the assumption was not <br />correct, and Bear Coal Company was denied access. <br />Left with no recourse, the Bear Coal Company filed a lawsuit in Gunnison <br />County District Court on October 15, 1981 against ARCO to gain <br />compensation for the coal lost on retreat mining and to gain legal <br />right-of-way access into the facilities and portal locations of the <br />adjacent area. <br />This revision represents a request fora permit from the Colorado Mined <br />Land Reclamation Board pursuant to the Colorado Surface Coal Mining and <br />Reclamation Act, C.R.S., 1973, Section 34-33-101 et sec, as well as a <br />modification of Colorado's existing Federal Mine Plan. The net effect <br />• of this request is to affect compliance with the new Colorado Act and <br />Regulations promulgated thereunder. <br />Without regulatory approval of this permit revision, coal production <br />from the Bear Coal Company will cease and its operation will be shut <br />down. Jobs would be lost and customers would not receive coal required <br />under existing contracts. If Bear Coal Company, as one of the long time <br />employers in western Colorado, is forced to halt current mining <br />operations, adverse socioeconomic impacts would be severely felt in the <br />local communities and would eventually extend to the entire country. At <br />a planned full production level of 275,000 tons of coal per year, aver 1 <br />million barrels of oil are displaced. At the present landed price of <br />about $35.00 per barrel, Bear Coal Company's yearly production helps the <br />nation save over $35,000,000 per year, money that is reinvested in this <br />country rather than exported to foreign oil suppliers. hloreover, unless <br />a permit revision is granted, a highly competent and trained work force <br />and an investment in capital equipment may be lost. <br />lJ <br />8 <br />