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Bear No. 1 Mine and the Bear No. 2 Mine. The Bear No. 1 and No. 2 Mines operated until 1981.
<br />Reclamation operations at the Bear No. 1 and No. 2 Mines were conducted in 1982 and 1983. On
<br />December 15, 1997, the Division made its proposed decision to approve the Phase I, 11 and II bond
<br />release at the Bear No. 1 and the Bear No. 2 Mines. The Division suspended the proposed decision for
<br />two years to see if a spring at the Bear No. 3 Mine would appear at or near the Bear No. 1 and Bear No. 2
<br />sites. When no such appearance occurred, the Division reissued its proposed decision to approve the Bear
<br />No. 1 and No. 2 Mines bond release on November 15, 1999, which ultimately, was issued and became
<br />final on April 6, 2000. There was no liability reduction associated with this bond release.
<br />On November 11, 1996, Bear Coal Company permanently ceased all mining operations at the Bear No. 3
<br />Mine due to geologic conditions encountered throughout the mine. The status of the Bear No. 3 Mine is
<br />"inactive." All three portals at the Bear No. 3 Mine have been sealed and have drainage pipes installed.
<br />The mine benches and bench access roads have been backfilled and graded. The mine fan, portal bench
<br />transfers, conveyor structure, stacking tube and miscellaneous mine equipment and debris have been
<br />removed. The mine office building was demolished and all debris, except for concrete, have been
<br />removed offsite. The disturbed area has been reseeded. A sedimentation pond and a spring water
<br />treatment pond also are on site.
<br />The Bear No. 3 Mine operation is located approximately ten miles northeast of Paonia, Colorado, and
<br />one-quarter mile east of Somerset, Colorado, adjacent to the North Fork of the Gunnison River (North
<br />Fork). At the Bear No. 3 Mine, average annual production ranged from 250,000 to 500,000 tons of coal.
<br />Coal was extracted from the B and C Seams within Bear fee coal and within Federal Coal Leases
<br />D-052501, COC57632, COC57633 and C-0117192. Approximately 8.4 acres were disturbed at the Bear
<br />No. 3 Mine.
<br />The original permit C-81-033 for the Bear No. 3 Mine was issued on July 19, 1982. On July 3, 1985,
<br />Bear Coal Company submitted a permit revision for the Bear No. 3 Mine that proposed the addition of
<br />Federal Coal Lease No. C-0117192 to the mine plan. This addition involved portions of the C-Seam
<br />immediately adjacent to the previously approved permit boundary. The approval decision was issued
<br />September 18, 1985. The decision document of September 18, 1985 contains specific details regarding
<br />the permit revision process.
<br />The first renewal application was received on November 6, 1986. Following the review process, a
<br />proposed decision was published on June 25, 1987 and the permit renewal was issued on July 19, 1987.
<br />The second renewal application was received on January 16, 1992. The application was complete, as
<br />submitted. Renewal adequacy responses were submitted to the Division on August 31, 1992 in the form
<br />of a technical revision and were subsequently found to be adequate. The proposed decision to approve
<br />Permit Renewal No. 2 was made on December 15, 1992. However, because the review process went
<br />beyond the permit expiration date and because the operator had secured the right of successive renewal,
<br />Permit Renewal No. 2 was back issued to July 19, 1992.
<br />On December 1, 1993, Bear Coal Company submitted Permit Revision No. 1, which proposed the
<br />addition of 205 acres to the permit area. Poor mining conditions that occurred during the review process
<br />forced the proposed mine plan to be revised to include only seven of the originally proposed 11 new
<br />panels. The proposed permit area boundary did not change. Bear Coal Company adequately addressed all
<br />of the Division's concerns and Permit Revision No. 1 was approved.
<br />Permit Revision No. 2 was submitted on September 29, 1994 and proposed expanding the mine plan to
<br />include additional B-Seam coal reserves in Sections 16 and 20. After all of the Division's issues were
<br />resolved satisfactorily, the revision, with two stipulations, was approved on February 8, 1995.
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