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On June 15, 2010, the Division received an application for revision of a valid, existing permit <br />from Seneca Coal Company for the Seneca II Mine. The application was deemed complete <br />and appropriate agencies notified of the application on June 28, 2010. Comments were <br />received from the State Historic Preservation Officer of the Colorado Historical Society <br />indicating that, since there was no new disturbance proposed with the revision, no cultural <br />resources inventory would be required. No other comments were received. <br />Seneca Coal Company published public notice of its application for the permit revision in the <br />Steamboat Pilot during four consecutive weeks, beginning July 11, 2010. No comments <br />regarding this permit renewal were received by the Division as a result of the public notice. <br />The Applicant Violator System (AVS) was queried on August 24, 2010, October 14, 2010, <br />and again on December 14, 2010. The system recommendation on the permit revision was <br />"issue". <br />On August 26, 2010, the Division submitted to SCC an adequacy review of the renewal <br />application. A response to our adequacy concerns was received by the Division on October <br />12, 2010. The Division sent a second adequacy review letter on October 27, 2010. SCC <br />responded on November 26`x, 2010. The Division requested additional information on <br />December 3, 2010, and Seneca Coal Company's December 10, 2010 response satisfied all of <br />the Division's remaining adequacy concerns. <br />Description of the Environment <br />The Seneca II Mine is located in northwest Colorado, approximately nine miles southeast of <br />the town of Hayden in Routt County. The Seneca II Mine lies 7 miles east of the Seneca II-W <br />Mine, Permit No. C1982-057, and 4 miles east of the Yoast Mine, Permit No. C1994-082. <br />The majority of the currently approved boundary lies within the boundaries of the Sage Creek <br />Mine, Permit No. C2009-087. The proposed permit boundary will be reduced to the Pond <br />008 watershed boundary, on the eastern border of the Sage Creek Mine. See the attached <br />maps for further detail. The mining area can be found on the Milner Quadrangle 7.5 Minute <br />Series Map. Elevations at the mine site range from 6,600 feet to 8,100 feet above mean sea <br />level. <br />Geology and Topography <br />The Seneca II Mine is located on the Tow Creek anticline, a local structure within the regional <br />Sand Wash structural basin. The local stratigraphic sequence, in ascending order, is the <br />Mancos Shale; the Mesaverde group, which may be subdivided into the Iles and Williams <br />Fork Formations; the Lewis Shale; and the Lance Formation, all of which are upper <br />Cretaceous in age. Overlying the Lance Formation are the Tertiary Fort Union and Wasatch <br />Formations. Quaternary alluvial deposits, generally derived from the Mesaverde Group, are <br />locally present in stream valleys. Recent colluvial slides and slumps may also be present in <br />canyons and gulches throughout the area. <br />3