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Page 1 of 1 <br />Hernandez, Daniel <br />From: Berry, David <br />Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 5:42 PM <br />To: Cattany, Ron <br />Cc: Berry, David; Kaldenbach, Tom; Hernandez, Daniel; Chery l. Linden@state.co. us <br />Today, Mountain Coal Company met with Ronald Cattany and David Berry regarding ongoing permitting-related <br />issues at the West Elk Coal Mine located near Somerset Colorado. <br />The topics of discussion were related to three permitting actions pending with the DRMS Coal Program. The <br />Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action has filed a written objection to all three of the pending permitting actions. The <br />permitting actions include a Permit Revision to add new mining area to the currently approved mining area (PR <br />12), a technical revision to add several methane vent holes in an already approved mining area (TR 111), and a <br />second technical revision (TR 112) to add methane vent holes to previously approved mine areas, and to the <br />proposed new mining area addressed in PR12. <br />The objection includes an allegation that DRMS should not allow the three separate actions, and that the three <br />actions should be consolidated to one action. DRMS believes that the three actions are being managed as <br />allowed by the coal statute and associated regulations. The objection also includes an allegation that methane <br />venting should not be allowed unless the methane in either flared or captured for production because methane is <br />considered a green house gas. The issue of green house gas emissions is significant, but DRMS lacks any legal <br />or regulatory basis to require flaring or capture of methane. <br />DRMS is obligated by the regulatory process to proceed with the reviews and proposed decisions associated with <br />these pending actions. The DRMS is continuing the regulatory review of the matters within are purview, and <br />pending satisfactory resolution of those issues, proposed decisions will be issued. If the proposed decisions are <br />to approve the actions, then it is likely that the objectors will appeal their issues to the Mined Land Reclamation <br />Board since DRMS cannot agree with the objector's allegations due to a lack of legal basis for DRMS to <br />implement the objector's requests. <br />Mountain Coal Company also discussed timeframes associated with the various actions. Mountain Coal Company <br />requested that a proposed decision be issued for PR 12 by March 21, 2008 so that other agency reviews and <br />subsequent mining may occur as soon as June 2008. DRMS will continue to prioritize resources to accomplish <br />the review of the application materials as requested, but it was not possible to prejudge the adequacy of the <br />company materials prior to the completion of the ongoing staff review process. Mountain Coal Company also <br />requested that a proposed decision be issued for TR 111 by April 4 to expedite mining by June 2008. The DRMS <br />is still awaiting the company response to a previous adequacy review, but the review will be prioritized. The <br />outcome of that review cannot be ascertained at this time. <br />6/18/2008