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BOWIE NO.1 MINE <br />Permit No. C-81-038 <br />Midterm Review <br />This is the midterm review findings document for the Bowie No. 1 Mine. The midterm review is required under <br />Rule 2.08.3 to be performed not later than the middle of each five year permit term. Through this review, the <br />Division can require reasonable modifications to the permit in order that the permit application complies with <br />the regulations. Rule 3.02.2(4) requires that the amount of the reclamation liability bond be reviewed during the <br />midterm and adjusted, if necessary. <br />This findings document is divided into four sections. Section I describes the history of the mine. An account of <br />the permitting and enforcement actions, including permit revisions, stipulations and enforcement actions is <br />contained in Section II. The reclamation liability bond information is in Section III. The final section contains <br />specific questions or comments that arose in the review of the permit application. <br />Section I - Mine History <br />The Bowie No. 1 Mine is a partially reclaimed underground mine that began operations in 1975. The mine was <br />originally called the Orchard Valley Mine and the original applicant was Colorado Westmoreland, Inc. (CWI). <br />The Orchard Valley Mine (Bowie No. 1) permit application was originally submitted on September 30, 1977. <br />The permit application was approved by the Mined Land Reclamation Board under the interim program on April <br />27, 1978. A modified permit application to comply with the proposed Colorado Permanent Regulatory Program <br />was submitted on June 18, 1979, and revised on February 27, 1981. The Division then published its proposed <br />decision approving the application with 25 stipulations on August 20, 1981. The Permanent Program Permit <br />No. C-038-81 was issued on September 24, 1981. <br />A permit revision application to incorporate 480 acres into the permit area of Permit No. C-81-038 was <br />submitted to the Division on November 18, 1982. CWI's application included information from the adjacent <br />Orchard Valley Permit C-81-038 as well as the permit revision area. The Division published its proposed <br />decision to approve the permit revision with eight stipulations on March 21, 1983. Permit No. C-038-083, <br />which superseded Permit No. C-81-038, was issued by the Division on April 20, 1983. <br />On August 29, 1984, Colorado Westmoreland Inc. submitted a permit revision to their existing Permit No. <br />C-83-038. The permit revision incorporated an additional 5,719.7 acres of adjacent federal coal (Lease <br />C-37210) into the mine permit area. CWI planned to mine this coal by extending the existing mine workings <br />north and west into these areas. <br />On June 1, 1986, the Orchard Valley Mine (Bowie No. 1) experienced a mine fire that necessitated the closure <br />of the mine portals. Permit Revision No. 2 was submitted August 18, 1986, proposing the construction of a <br />temporary West Mine portal and haul road. The West Mine portal was used to export coal from the mine until <br />June 1993. Thereafter, the West Mine facilities were used for materials transport, a maintenance shop, <br />ventilation and emergency escape way.