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OORSEY <br />DORSEY & WIiITNEY LLP <br />SCOTT P. SINOR <br />Associate <br />(303)629-3408 <br />sinor.scott@dorsey.com <br />February 28, 2008 <br />Mr. Ron Cattany <br />Executive Director <br />Colorado Division of Reclamation <br />Mining and Safety <br />1313 Sherman St., Rm. 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />~~~~~,~r <br />Re: Response to Jeremy Nichols, Director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, <br />letter dated February 13, 2008 <br />Dear Mr. Cattany: <br />I am writing on behalf of Mountain Coal Company, LLC ("MCC") and the West Elk Mine, <br />in response to the above referenced letter addressed to you from Jeremy Nichols, Director of <br />Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action ("RMCAA"), dated February 13, 2008. By way of background, <br />the West Elk Mine employs 450 people, mostly residents of Colorado. It contributes $4 million <br />in tax base and over $6 million annually to the Colorado economy, including a $44 million <br />payroll. MCC has undergone many months of permitting work to bring the West Elk Mine to a <br />point where it can continue to operate in 2008 and beyond. As explained below, most of the <br />recommendations in RMCAA's letter, if implemented, will result in the indefinite shut-down of the <br />mine and attendant serious harm to nearby communities and Colorado generally. For that <br />reason, RMCAA's claims should be examined with considerable care. <br />Mr. Nichols wrote regarding MCC's proposed continued operations at the West Elk Mine, <br />currently under consideration by the United States Forest Service ("FS") and the Colorado <br />Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety ("DRMS"), and specifically the construction of a <br />series of methane drainage wells ("MDWs") necessary to vent coal mine methane and allow <br />safe operation of the West Elk Mine to continue. At the state level, these issues are currently <br />under consideration by DRMS as Permit Revision 12 ("PR12") and Technical Revisions 111 and <br />112 ("TRs111/112") to the West Elk Mine permit. In its letter, RMCAA insists that DRMS <br />change its standard practice in evaluating the construction of MDWs, and to require the West <br />Elk Mine to either flare or capture methane emissions from the MDWs. Altogether, RMCAA's <br />suggestions are poorly conceived, and often infeasible or illegal, and for the reasons that follow, <br />RMCAA's requests should be categorically rejected. <br />At the same time, MCC wishes to emphasize that it is not conceptually opposed to either <br />flaring or capture of coal mine methane where feasible, legal, and appropriate. There are well- <br />established regulatory vehicles for addressing all of the issues raised in RMCAA's letter. But it <br />is grossly inappropriate to bypass the regulatory process altogether and attempt to impose as <br />DORSEY & WHITNEY LLP WWW.DORSEY.COM • T 303.629.3400 F 303.629.3450 <br />REPUBLIC PLAZA BUILDING • SUITE 4700 • 370 SEVENTEENTH STREET • DENVER, CO 80202-5647 <br />USA CANADA EUROPE ASIA <br />