Laserfiche WebLink
July 21, 2011 <br />EARTHJUSTICE <br />Because the earth needs a good lawyer <br />Brock F. Bowles, Environmental Protection Specialist <br />Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety <br />1313 Sherman St., Rm. 215 <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />FAX: 303 - 832 -8106 <br />Brock.Bowles @state.co.us <br />ALASKA CALIFORNIA FLORIDA MID- PACIFIC NORTHEAST NORTHERN ROCKIES <br />NORTHWEST ROCKY MOUNTAIN WASHINGTON, DC INTERNATIONAL <br />Re: Comments of WildEarth Guardians on Elk Creek Mine Permit No. C1981022, <br />Revision TR72, Methane Drainage Boreholes on Forest Service Land <br />Earthjustice, on behalf of WildEarth Guardians, submits these comments on Technical Revision <br />TR72 to Elk Creek Mine Permit Number C 1981022, concerning the Mine's request for approval <br />to construct new roads and well pads within inventoried roadless areas of U.S. Forest Service <br />land. Pursuant to notice letters posted on DRMS website, DRMS seeks comments by July 21. <br />WildEarth Guardians has the following concerns about this Technical Revision. <br />the revision will apparently require the construction of a half -mile of additional road <br />and the bulldozing of an additional well pad within an inventoried roadless of U.S. <br />Forest Service land. Pursuant to an injunction from the U.S. District Court for the <br />District of North California, such road construction is prohibited unless Oxbow's <br />lease predates adoption of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, January 12, 2001. <br />See California ex rel. Lockver v. United States Department of Agriculture, 459 F. <br />Supp. 2d 874 (N.D. Cal. 2006). Even if the lease postdates January 12, 2001, special <br />procedures concerning management and reclamation of the road apply pursuant to <br />that Roadless Rule. <br />the revision will result in the venting of hundreds of thousands of cubic feet pre day <br />of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. DRMS has cause to require Oxbow "[t]o the <br />extent possible" to minimize the impacts of global warming by requiring the use "the <br />best technology currently available" so that DRMS "insure[s] that society and the <br />environment are protected from the adverse effects" of mine operations. Regulations <br />of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal Mining Section 4.01.1(5), <br />(9) (revised September 14, 2005). DRMS should thus consider requiring Oxbow to <br />mitigate these impacts through flaring or capture. <br />- the revision may result in the destruction of important wildlife habitat and worsen air <br />pollution. <br />- the applicant appears to have bifurcated two technical revisions (TR71 and TR72) <br />which more logically should be considered as one revision. DRMS should evaluate <br />whether the two revisions — which the applicant admits address the same issues of the <br />1400 GLENARM PLACE, SUITE 300 DENVER, CO 80202 -5050 <br />T: 303.623.9466 F: 303.623.8083 E: rmoffice @earthjustice.org W: www.earthjustice.org <br />