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NEW HORIZON NORTH MINE <br />SPECIAL USE PERMIT APPLICATION <br />NARRATIVE <br />1.1 Introduction <br />Major settlement of the area traces it history back to 1884 when Colorado Cooperative <br />Company established Naturita as part of a ditch construction and agricultural <br />development project. Nucla was laid out and organized in 1904. The existing C-C Ditch <br />was constructed between 1886 and 1904 to irrigate the plateau southwest of Town. <br />Records show coal in the area being mined and coked in 1885 for the Cashin Mine <br />smelter. The areas south and west of Nucla have shared in agricultural and coal mining <br />activities since that time. Nucla Power Station became a major user of locally mined coal <br />in 1959 when the electrical power generation station was constructed 3.5 miles southeast <br />of Nucla on the San Miguel River. The station gained notoriety in 1987 when it was <br />retooled as the first utility scale atmospheric circulating fluidized bed combustion fired <br />power plant. The 100 megawatt plant is owned by Tri-State Generation and <br />Transmission Association, Inc. See Sheet 1 of 6, Exhibit A, for the location of Nucla <br />within Montrose County and Sheet 2 of 6 for the location of the Nucla Power Plant. <br />Western Fuels has operated the New Horizon Mine since 1992 when the mine was <br />acquired from Peabody Coal Company. The operation mines 400,000 to 450,000 tons of <br />coal per year using surface mining techniques and delivers the coal to the Tri-State Nucla <br />Power Station. The mine employs 28 people and typically works 2 - 8 hour shifts, 5 <br />days/week. Between payroll and purchase, New Horizon has been a major contributor to <br />the economy of the West End of Montrose County. In the process, the mine has been <br />awarded multiple safety and reclamation awards. <br />This Special Use Permit is being requested for a 322 acre site, one mile north of the <br />current mining area. Prior Special Use Permits were issued in 1996 (SU-96-1023) for <br />332 acres and for an additional 476 acres in 1999 (SU-99-0834) for operations in the <br />current Mining and Reclamation Permit area. The current coal reserves are scheduled to <br />last into 2013, at which time the equipment and operations will be moved to the new site <br />discussed in this Special Use Permit Application. <br />Of the 827 acres covered by existing Permits, approximately 156 acres are in use for <br />operations, stockpiling and access, 106 acres have yet to be mined, 482 acres are in <br />reclamation phases, and 83 acres are undisturbed perimeter areas. None of the reclaimed <br />area has been released from reclamation bonding. Relocation to the new site will include <br />operations facilities, freeing up nearly all of the previously permitted area for reclamation <br />activities. Sheet 4 of 6, Exhibit A, was prepared from a recent air photo of the area to <br />show the current status of the existing permitted area. <br />This Special Use Permit will cover a 317 acre operations and mining area and a 5 acre <br />strip of land used to transfer mining equipment between the existing mine and the new <br />Page 1