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intrnductinn <br />This document is the Permit Revision No. 11 (PR-11) proposed decision package prepared by the <br />Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (Division) for the Bowie No. 2 Mine. Through <br />Permit Revision No. 11, Bowie Resources LLC (BRL) is proposing to revise its approved B-seam mine <br />plan. This document includes: 1) the proposed decision to Approve the permit renewal application; 2) a <br />summary which includes a history of the review of the permit revision application, a description of the <br />environment affected by the operation and a description of the mining and reclamation plan; and 3) the <br />written findings of compliance the Division has made as required by the Colorado Surface Coal Mining <br />Reclamation Act. Detailed information concerning the findings of compliance can be found in the <br />Regulations of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal Mining. <br />The mine permit area is located on Federal and Private lands within Delta County, Colorado. BRL is both <br />the applicant and operator of the Bowie No. 2 Mine. The coal to be mined is privately and federally <br />owned, as are the surface lands to be disturbed by mining. The management of the surface land is through <br />the USDA-Forest Service while management of the coal is through the Bureau of Land Management. <br />Access to the coal is through Federal Coal Lease COC-61209. <br />Originally, in accordance with direction provided by the Office of Surface Mining (OSM), the Division <br />and the OSM considered the Bowie No. 2 Mine to be a private mine, for the purposes of permit and <br />inspection regulation. However, with approval of Technical Revision No. 16, the Bowie No. 2 Mine <br />became a federal mine. Through that revision, BRL was granted permission to conduct mining in a <br />limited area of the Iron Point Tract Federal Lease. <br />In PR-11, BRL is proposing to revise its approved mine plan by extending mining of the B-seam coal to <br />the north. The revised mine plan is needed due to difficult mining conditions. The current mine plan <br />involves longwall panels that trend generally east-west and are located just south of the current permit <br />boundary. In PR-11, BRL is proposing longwall panels that trend generally north-south and extend <br />northward beyond the currently approved northern permit boundary. BRL has received a Federal coal <br />lease modification to Federal coal lease COC 61209 for this additional northern area, which would <br />increase the permit area by about 560 acres. The effects of subsidence would be within 1370 feet of the <br />Bruce Park Dam and within 750 feet of the Terror Creek Reservoir. <br />The Bowie No. 2 Mine is located about five (5) miles northeast of Paonia, Colorado, adjacent to State <br />Highway 133 and near the old Bowie townsite. The current permit area includes 5305 surface acres, of <br />which 2612 surface acres are privately owned and 2693 surface acres are federally owned. With the <br />approval of Permit Revision No. 11, the permit area will increase in size by 560 acres and the affected <br />area will increase by 167 acres. The legal description of the lands included within the present permit area <br />is described in the sections listed below: <br />Township 13 South, Range 91 West, 6th PM <br />Sec. 2: SW'/NW%, SW'/ <br />Sec. 3: ALL <br />Sec. 4: ALL <br />Sec. 5: S'hSE%, SE'/SW%, S'hNE'/NE'/SE%, SE'/NW'/NE'/SE/4, <br /> E'/zSW'/NE%SE'/, SE%NE%SE'/ <br />Sec. 8: NE '/ <br />Sec. 9: NE'/o, NW'/a, SE'/,., NE'/zSW'/o, SE'/4SW'/a, NE'/aSW'/aSW'/a <br />Sec. 10: ALL <br />Sec. 11: SW %, NW%