2008-11-24_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1996083

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The Division received one comment letter for Permit Revision No. 8. In a letter dated April 21, 2003, the United States Department of Agriculture-Forest Service (USDA-FS) expressed concerns about the effects of subsidence in the Sheep Corral drainage. BRL responded to the concerns of the USDA-FS in the adequacy review response letter dated July 22, 2003. In a reply letter dated September 24, 2003, the USDA-FS concurred with the approval of PR-08, provided that a commitment was added concerning visual subsidence monitoring in the Sheep Corral drainage. In a final submittal dated September 24, 2003, BRL added the commitment to the permit text. In Technical Revision No. 27, BRL proposed to construct a coal preparation wash plant with associated structures. The submittal was received June 19, 2003 and approved with Stipulation No. 15 attached on August 22, 2003. Stipulation No. 15 was complied with upon the submittal of the necessary air emissions permits. A second coal waste disposal site was proposed in Technical Revision No. 30, received on November 13, 2003. The capacity of the disposal site was to be about 2 million cubic yards of material and included pond F in the sediment control system. The revision was approved with conditions on March 23, 2004. Stipulation 17 was attached to the approval and was complied with upon the submittal of the updated NPDES permit, air emissions permits, successful resolution of the Section 7 consultation with the USDA- FS and an agreement document with the Deer Trail Ditch Company. Technical Revision No. 31 was submitted on November 24, 2003 in order to slightly modify the mine plans for the D seam and the B seam. Also included in the revision were two incidental boundary changes, an increase of 49.3 acres for the mine plan changes and a decrease of 0.7 acres near the loadout. Modification No. 1 of Federal Coal Lease COC 61209 was necessary to accommodate the mine plan changes. The technical revision was approved with Stipulation No. 18 attached on May 11, 2004. Longwall mining in two panels in the west district was contingent on the submittal of a rockfall report and the construction of a rockfall protective berm above the facilities area. With the submittal of the report and the construction of the berm through Technical Revision No. 35, stipulation 18 was complied with. In a submittal dated December 30, 2003, BRL requested a Succession of Operator, SO-02, to transfer the Bowie No. 2 Mine permit from Bowie Resources Limited to Bowie Resources LLC. The proposed decision to approve with conditions SO-02 was made on September 28, 2004. Stipulations Nos. 21 and 22 were attached to the proposed decision and have been subsequently satisfied. BRL submitted Permit Revision No. 9 in order to add a third longwall panel in the B-2 coal seam west district and to realign B-2 coal seam longwall panels and entryways in the north district. Lease Modification No. 2 to Federal Coal Lease COC 61209 and a private surface access agreement were needed for these changes to the mine plan. The permit area would be increased by 161 acres, 22 acres of which were federal and 139 acres of which were private. The application for Permit Revision No. 9 was received on June 3, 2005 and called complete on June 13, 2005. Completeness letters were sent June 13, 2005 and the public notice was published. Only one agency letter, from the Colorado Division of Water Resources, was received at the Division and that agency had no issues with the submittal. The Division sent its adequacy review letters on August 10, 2005 and September 28, 2005. BRL responded in submittals dated September 16, 2005, September 20, 2005 and October 7, 2005. Computer checks of the Applicant Violator System were made on August 31, 2005 and October 4, 2005. In both cases, the recommendations were to issue. All adequacy issues were resolved so a proposed decision to approve Permit Revision No. 9 was made on October 12, 2005 with issuance on November 21, 2005. 10