2008-03-21_PERMIT FILE - C1980007A ‎(49)‎

• Permit No: C1980007A
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 3/21/2008
• Section_Exhibit Name: 2.04 Application for Permit for Surface or Underground Mining Activities
• Media Type: D
• Archive: Yes

West Elk Mine
• approximately 8,200 feet). Then West Flatiron (approximately 8,500 feet) is the major topographic
expression in the center of the Box Canyon lease tract.
Pre-Minim Environmental Resources/Condition, Capability and Productivity
Lands within the West Elk Mule pen-nit area are managed by the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) - U.S. Department of Interior; the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) - U.S. Department of
Agriculture; MCC; and the private landowners identified in Exhibit 3. Public lands managed by the
BLM fall within the Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area. USFS managed public lands are located
within the Guri raison National Forest. Use of private lands in unincorporated Gunnison County is
regulated by Gunnison County:' BLM manages their lands according to Resource Management
Plans (RMP) prepared under the BLM Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA).
Infonnation regarding the existing pre-mining environmental and land uses on these public lands is
derived from the RMPs prepared for the Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area and the Gumison
National Forest. GMUG manages the NFS lands in the area according to the GMUG Land and
Resource Management Plan (1983), prepared in accordance with the NFMA. Information on the
pre-mining land uses on private lands is derived from information provided by landowners or long-
time residents of the area. Map 67 depicts the pre-mining surface land uses of the permit and
adjacent areas.
UncomnahLrre Basin Resource Area
. Within the West Elk Mine pernt area, the BLM manages approximately 182 acres of public land
located in Section 11 and 12, T13S, R90W. These lands fall within Management Unit 7, which
accounts for four (4) percent of the total land area of the Uncompahgre Basin Planning Area. The
existing pre-mining environmental resources identified as important by the BLM in this area are
coal and wildlife habitat (BLM, 1989). The relatively small size of the area within this tract and its
proximity to existing transportation facilities (Colorado Highway 133, and the Union Pacific
Railroad), the North Fork of the Gunnison River, and existing mines, limit the number and variety
of land uses for the tract. The BLM has not developed or provided a discussion of the capability of
the land to support a variety of uses, recognizing that livestock grazing and mining have been the
dominant historical uses of the area since European settlement of the North Fork Valley.
Productivity of the land has not been quantified by BLM since the primary use is mining. Wildlife
habitat is minimal in this area of the management unit, and there is no crucial deer and elk winter
range in this area.
The BLM has specified the management of this area in the RMP (BLM, 1989):
"The management uiit'will be managed for both existing and potential coal development.
Development of existing coal leases will continue, and unleased federal coal will be
identified as acceptable for further coal leasing consideration with a minimum of
multiple-use restrictions. Activities and land uses that are consistent with maintaining
existing coal operations and the potential for coal development will be permitted."
` Other acceptable land uses in this management unit are oil and gas leasing and development,
-10 forestry, utility corridors, and off-road vehicle use.
2.04-2 Revised June 2005 PRIG; Rev. March 2006 ; Rev. Apri12006 PRIO, Sep. 2007 PR12