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8120(CO 130) <br />CERTIFIED MAIL NO. 7005 0390 0004 3829 7335 <br />RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED <br />Ernest House Sr., Chairman <br />Ute Mountain Ute Tribe <br />P.O. Box 248 <br />Towoac, CO 81334 <br />Dear Chairman House Sr.: <br /> <br />The Bureau of Land Management Grand Junction Field Office would like to bring the following project to <br />your attention. Our office is in the process of preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to <br />analyze the Red Cliff Mine, proposed by Central Appalachia Mining, Colorado LLC (CAM). CAM <br />proposes opening new portals to extract low-sulfur coal from the underground Red Cliff Mine. In addition <br />to locating facilities on their existing and potential new coal leases, CAM has also applied for rights-of--way <br />and land-use applications to locate surface facilities on approximately 1,140 acres of federally managed <br />lands. A general map showing the project area and two other maps showing the surface facilities associated <br />with the rail line and the transmission line alternatives are enclosed. <br />The proposed Red Cliff Mine is located approximately 20 miles northwest of Grand Junction, Colorado, and <br />1.5 miles east of Colorado State Highway 139. CAM currently mines coal from the underground McClane <br />Mine, located three miles north of the proposed Red Cliff Mine but would cease operations there once the <br />Red Cliff Mine was operational. The coal from the McClane Mine is currently transported by trucks to the <br />Cameo Power Plant east of Grand Junction. CAM has proposed building a railroad line to connect the Red <br />Cliff mine to the existing Union Pacific Railroad near Mack, Colorado, crossing approximately 10 miles of <br />federally managed lands and 5 miles of private land. Electric power needed to operate the mine would be <br />purchased from Grand Valley Power the local utility company; they will need to construct a new 69 kV <br />transmission line from a substation near the town of Fruita to supply electricity to the mine. This line will <br />be approximately 14 miles long, with 7 miles on federally managed lands and 7 miles on private land. <br />Underground mining would be conducted 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year. CAM's <br />production from the Red Cliff Mine would be up to 8 million tons per year, with an estimated mine life of <br />30 years depending on market conditions. Construction of the facilities for the Red Cliff Mine would take <br />approximately 2 years and would cost approximately $163 million. <br />DBMS 372 <br />