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Approval of Technical Revision No. 44 on March 20, 2007 allowed for the expansion of coal waste
<br />disposal area no. 2 to the west to join with the original coal waste disposal area.
<br />In a letter dated July 17, 2006, BRL was informed by the Division that the current five year permit term
<br />was going to expire on April 4, 2007. Permit Renewal No. 2 was called complete on August 11, 2006,
<br />thereby securing the right of successive renewal. Completeness letters were sent out on the same day. The
<br />completeness public notice was published on August 16, 23 and 30 and September 6, 2006.
<br />In a letter dated December 13, 2006, the Division requested that the Office of Surface Mining (OSM)
<br />enter into consultation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service concerning an updated threatened &
<br />endangered species report. The report was dated December 6, 2006 and was submitted by BRL as part of
<br />the Permit Renewal No. 2 adequacy review. OSM decided that the Technical Revision No. 45
<br />consultation would suffice for Permit Revision No. 2. In a memorandum dated April 13, 2007, the U.S.
<br />Fish & Wildlife Service determined that no new water depletions will occur so the existing Recovery
<br />Implementation Program for the Endangered Fish Species in the Upper Colorado River Basin will suffice.
<br />The Division sent five adequacy review letters dated October 17, 2006, February 15, 2007, March 2,
<br />2007, May 3, 2007 and May 18, 2007. No individual, group or government agency sent comment letters
<br />to the Division. BRL responded to the Division's adequacy concerns in responses dated December 7,
<br />2006, February 21, 2007 and May 8, 2007. An AVS check was made on June 22, 2007 and the
<br />recommendation was to "issue". With all adequacy review issues resolved, the proposed decision to
<br />approve Permit Renewal No. 2 was made on June 22, 2007.
<br />The maps and permit text that were revised in Permit Renewal No. 2 were placed into the permit
<br />application through Minor Revision No. 80. The public notice for the proposed decision to approve
<br />Permit Renewal No. 2 was published in the Delta County Independent and contains information
<br />concerning the increase in the reclamation cost estimate. Although there were no public objections to the
<br />proposed decision, the renewed permit could not be issued until sufficient reclamation bond was
<br />submitted and approved by the Division. Upon the successful resolution of the bond issue, Permit
<br />Renewal No. 2 was issued on September 28, 2007.
<br />The application for Permit Renewal No. 10 was presented by BRL in a submittal dated February 28, 2006
<br />and received at the Division on March 1, 2006. PR-10 was called complete on March 13, 2006 and the
<br />completeness letters were mailed out the next day. The completeness public notice appeared in the Delta
<br />County Independent on March 15, 22, 29 and April 5, 2006.
<br />The Division received comment letters from the Colorado Division of Water Resources (Denver), the
<br />Colorado Historical Society, USDA-Forest Service (Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison National
<br />Forest), the US Bureau of Land Management, the Delta County Board of Commissioners, the Terror
<br />Ditch and Reservoir Company and the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council. The Division
<br />also received a letter, dated March 20, 2006, from the Office of Surface Mining, in which that agency
<br />determined that the activities proposed in PR-10 did not constitute a mining plan action requiring
<br />Secretarial approval.
<br />The Division worked closely with the Colorado Division of Water Resources Dam Safety Group
<br />(Montrose) in the review of PR-10. There were many adequacy review letters by the Division and
<br />adequacy review responses by the operator during the course of the review. There were several major
<br />issues brought up during the adequacy review, including mining-induced seismicity studies, geotechnical
<br />and seismicity studies of the Bruce Park Dam and adjacent landslide, a seismic monitoring program, pre-
<br />subsidence survey and subsidence monitoring program, Bruce Park Dam monitoring and damage
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