Laserfiche WebLink
Summary <br />The Review Process <br />Permit C-80-007 was issued on July 31, 1981 for an initial five-year term, and since then has <br />been renewed for five additional five-year terms. Nine permit revisions have also been approved <br />since 1981. The review process for past permit renewals and permit revisions is summarized in <br />Appendix "B" at the end of this Findings document. <br />MCC submitted the application for PR-12, addition of the Dry Fork lease (COC-67232), on <br />October 1, 2007 and the Division found the application complete on the same day. The Division <br />conducted a preliminary adequacy review, as summarized in a memo to the PR-12 file dated <br />December 5, 2007, and comments were submitted to the applicant in a letter on that day. <br />Adequacy concerns were related to subsidence impacts in the proposed Dry Fork lease area and <br />various changes to text and tables in the permit application. All concerns in the December 5 <br />letter were resolved by MCC's responses submitted on February 28, 2008. The Division asked <br />MCC to submit updated ownership and control information via email dated March 20, 2008. <br />MCC responded with updated permit pages sent via email on March 21, 2008. <br />During the review of PR-12, the Division received a comment by phone from the U.S. Forest <br />Service on March 20, 2008 that the mine expansion proposed in PR-12 should correspond to the <br />Dry Fork lease boundaries because the final environmental impact statement prepared for the Dry <br />Fork lease (dated August 2005) covered only the area of the Dry Fork lease. The Division <br />notified MCC of the Forest Service comment by phone on March 20, 2008, and MCC responded <br />with a letter on that day requesting that the PR-12 proposed expansion be reduced from an <br />original amount of 1,767 acres to only the 1,517 acres which are in the Dry Fork lease. In order <br />to give MCC sufficient time (30 days) for revising maps and text to reflect the reduction in <br />acreage, Stipulation 77 is added to the permit in the proposed decision for PR-12. <br />In addition to the comment from the Forest Service, the Division received the following <br />comments during the review of PR-12. The State Historic Preservation Officer commented by <br />letter dated October 5, 2007 on the cultural and historic resources in the Dry Fork lease area (see <br />further details on their comments in the following discussion of cultural and historic resources). <br />The Office of the State Engineer indicated no objection to PR-12 in a letter dated October 15, <br />2007. The Bureau of Land Management, in a letter dated October 10, 2007, verified the validity <br />of the Dry Fork lease and the associated right-of-entry. Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action <br />indicated an objection to issues related to methane venting in a letter dated February 13, 2008. <br />The Division responded to Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action in a letter dated March 17, 2008. <br />5 <br />