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Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br />Detailed information regarding the operation and reclamation plans for the Bowie No. 2 Mine is presented <br />in Section 2.05 of the Bowie No. 2 Mine permit application document. Section 2.05 of the permit also <br />contains numerous references to maps and other information related to the Bowie No. 2 Mine operations <br />and reclamation plans, which are contained in various sections of the permit application document <br />binders. The following summary is derived from the information presented in the Bowie No. 2 Mine <br />permit application document. <br />The Bowie No. 2 Mine is an underground coal mine which originally extracted D-2 coal using the room <br />and pillar mining method from private coal owned by BRL. Retreat mining of some of these sections has <br />occurred. Approval of Permit Revision No. 3 allowed the mining method to change to longwall mining. <br />The D-2 coal seam was accessed from three (3) entries which were constructed at an elevation of 6880 <br />feet above sea level. This is the elevation where the D-2 coal seam generally outcrops, within the Bowie <br />No. 2 permit area, and this elevation is approximately 800 feet above the old State Highway 133. The <br />main entries had been driven down-dip to the north, with the sub-mains being driven east and west from <br />the mains. <br />Mining is currently being conducted in the B-2 coal seam. Approval of Permit Revision No. 7 permitted <br />the construction of support facilities in order to mine the B-2 coal seam. The initial mine plan approval to <br />mine the B-2 coal seam was obtained through Permit Revision No. 8. In Permit Revision No. 9, the B-2 <br />coal seam mine plan was amended. The construction of a coal wash plant was approved in Technical <br />Revision No. 27. A third panel was projected in the west section of the mine. The permit boundary was <br />expanded to encompass the entire Federal coal lease (COC 61209) boundary and two lease modification <br />areas. With approval of PR-12, portions of three federal coal leases, C-37210, C-27432 and D-36955, will <br />become part of the Bowie No. 2 Mine. In addition, <br />No mining under Terror Creek had been proposed until TR-65 approved room and pillar mains under <br />Terror Creek to access the mining proposed in PR-12. <br />The B-2 coal seam is currently being accessed through three mine entries. The B-2 coal seam portals are <br />located below and just to the southeast of the D-2 coal seam portals, at an approximate elevation of 6630 <br />feet. The development mining and longwall mining of the B-2 coal seam were approved in Permit <br />Revision No. 8. The B-2 coal seam mine plan was amended in Permit Revision No. 9. Final approval of <br />PR-10 extended the B-seam mining to the north but still within the Federal Coal Lease COC-61209 <br />boundary. Approval of PR-11 extended mining of the B-2 coal seam northward into the new Federal Coal <br />Lease COC-61209 modification area. Currently, total annual coal production has been capped at 6 million <br />tons per year. Approval of PR-12 will curtail mining to the north and open up a western district by <br />transferring a portion of the Bowie No. 1 Mine permit area into the Bowie No. 2 permit area. <br />The mine facilities have been constructed near the old Bowie townsite. Construction included haul and <br />access roads, a conveyor belt system, mine and facility benches, vent shafts, a truck loadout facility, <br />refuse piles, and various drainage and sediment control facilities. Approval of Permit Revision No. 3 <br />added a downhill conveyor, coal stockpile and coal haul truck loading system to the facilities. In addition, <br />the mine site entrance was relocated to the east of the original entrance. Coal was being exported from the <br />truck loadout facility onto old State Highway 133 to the Bowie No. 1 Mine train loadout. However, <br />approval of Permit Revision No. 6 permitted the construction of a unit train loadout. Coal travels by <br />covered conveyor line to the coal stockpile at the bottom of the hill and, then, to the unit train loadout. In <br />Permit Revision No. 7, the operator received approval to construct the B-2 coal seam portal bench and to <br />use haul trucks to bring coal from the B-2 coal seam portal bench up to the beginning point of the <br />20