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<br />MAY 0.3 2010 <br />Divtf,1 " vo <br />dining <br />In Reply Refer to: <br />3432, COC-36955 <br />United States Department of the <br />Interior <br />Bureau of Land Management <br />Uncompahgre Field Office <br />2465 South Townsend Avenue <br />Montrose, Colorado 81401 <br />APR S 8 2010 <br />ui 0IPAUNA i Of ?i NIRM <br />WI M WO WwMWVO <br />Dear Interested Party, <br />The Bureau of Land Management, Uncompahgre Field Office (BLM), is seeking <br />comments on a proposed coal lease modification on public lands. Bowie Resources, LLC <br />(Bowie) applied to modify their existing federal coal lease COC-36955 by adding about <br />160 acres to it. The existing lease is part of a Logical Mining Unit held by Bowie which <br />will be mined from their Bowie No. 2 Mine near Paonia in Delta. County, Colorado. The <br />application was made to prevent bypass of federal coal reserves. The BLM is required by <br />law to consider leasing Federal Coal for economic recovery. <br />The coal lease modification area is described as the W2SE4 of section 8 and W2NE4 of <br />section 17 in T.13S. R. 91 W., 6th PM. <br />If BLM decides to modify the lease, the modification would there be offered by non- <br />competitive sale. The BLM would also identify any needed stipulations to protect non- <br />coal (surface) resources. If the lease modification occurs, it would serve as a location for <br />development mains and gateroads allowing lengthened longwall block coal to be mined <br />from the existing leases in the Logical Mining Unit. The coal would be transported using <br />Bowie's_existing coal transportation system and surface facilities. <br />Bowie plans some shallow exploratory drilling on the lease modification area to identify <br />the extent of minable coal using a zero impact drilling technique. The drill rig, crew, and <br />support equipment would access Terror Creek road from the Bovvie No. 2 Mine site. <br />Drilling would be performed within the existing Terror Creek road prism. The proposed <br />drilling operation is considered zero impact since no drill pads or mud pits are required, <br />all water is re-circulated, and cuttings are hauled off site. <br />The BLM has determined that this action must be evaluated under the National <br />Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to identify the potential environmental impacts related <br />to the proposed action. The BLM is seeking any comments you may have related to this <br />project. Your comments will assist the interdisciplinary team in identifying issues that <br />should be addressed as part of the evaluation being prepared for this project.