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CHAPTERONE Purpose and Need <br />effectively and efficiently mine the coal and transport it to market. Current facilities at the <br />McClane Mine are not adequate for this purpose. <br />The proposed Red Cliff Mine project area is located approximately 11 miles north of the towns <br />of Mack and Loma, Colorado, and 1.5 miles east of Colorado State Highway (SH) 139, as shown <br />on Figure 1-3, Red Cliff Mine Project Location. CAM currently mines approximately 280,000 <br />tons of coal per year from the underground McClane Mine, located 3 miles north of the proposed <br />Red Cliff Mine. The coal is transported by truck to the Cameo Power Plant east of Grand <br />Junction. CAM would cease operations at the McClane Mine once the Red Cliff Mine becomes <br />operational. <br />For the Red Cliff Mine, CAM is proposing to construct new mine entries (portals) and associated <br />facilities to extract low-sulfur coal from existing Federal Coal Leases C 0125515, C 0125516, <br />and C 0125439 (defined collectively as logical mining unit COC-57198); potential new federal <br />coal leases; and a small amount of private coal. In addition to locating facilities on the existing <br />and potential new coal leases, CAM would locate surface facilities on BLM lands within the <br />boundaries of the proposed ROW and Land Use Application area (approximately 1,140 acres). <br />These facilities would include the waste rock disposal area, railroad loop, the unit train loadout, <br />and a conveyor system to move the coal and waste rock. County Road (CR) X (also known as <br />Mitchell Road or Power Line Road) would be upgraded to serve as the mine access road from <br />SH 139. Other facility components are listed below. <br />The railroad would be located on BLM and private lands, with the railroad connecting to the <br />existing Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) near Mack, Colorado. The proposed railroad would <br />traverse approximately 9.5 miles of BLM land, including one crossing of SH 139 and <br />approximately 5 miles of private land. The proposed railroad would also cross CR M.8 and <br />CR 10. <br />Electric power is needed at the mine to run the underground mining machinery, the conveyor <br />system, and the other mine support facilities. CAM would contract with GVP, the local utility, <br />to supply the necessary electric power. GVP would need to construct a new 69-kilovolt (kV) <br />transmission line from the Uintah Substation to the mine to supply this power. The transmission <br />line would be approximately 14 miles long, with approximately 7 miles on federally managed <br />lands and 7 miles on private land. The proposed route is shown on Figure 1-1, Proposed Action. <br />Underground mining would be conducted 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per <br />year by room and pillar and longwall mining techniques. CAM's production from the Red Cliff <br />Mine would be up to 8 million tons per year, with an estimated life of mine of 30 years. CAM is <br />proposing to load the coal onto rail cars at the mine site and ship it to coal consumers via the <br />UPRR. The production rate at the mine would be controlled by market conditions. Construction <br />of the facilities associated with the Red Cliff Mine would take approximately two years to <br />construct and would cost approximately $163 million. Proposed facilities associated with the <br />mine include: <br />• Portal conveyor transfer buildings • Power line <br />• Fuel oil storage/fueling stations • Non-coal waste storage <br />• Electrical substations • Rock dust storage <br />• Bathhouse/office building • Pump house <br />• Outdoor material storage areas • Conveyor transfer building <br />1-2 <br />