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McClane Canyon Mine Expansion and Fruita Loadout Facility Biological Assessment <br />1.0 INTRODUCTION <br />McClane Canyon Mine (Mine), owned and operated by CAM - Colorado, LLC (CAM) in Garfield <br />County, provided 280,000 tons of coal per year to the Cameo Power Plant located in Mesa <br />County. The Mine produced coal from the Cameo Seam using conventional underground room <br />and pillar mining techniques. The Cameo Power Plant was the Mine's only customer but the <br />plant closed at the end 2010. The Mine was idled at the end of 2010 and proposes to increase <br />coal production to 500,000 clean tons of coal per year when new markets are obtained. CAM <br />submitted a Request for Lease Modification to the Bureau of Land Management Grand Junction <br />Field Office (BLM -GJFO) for 320 acres adjacent to federal coal lease C- 0125439 to ensure <br />Tong -term access to unmined reserves located north and south of the existing mine workings <br />within the McClane Canyon Mine leasehold. The lease modification would reduce the risk of <br />bypassing millions of tons of federal coal within the leasehold. <br />The Mine intends to process coal in an air jig plant located at the Mine site. The cleaning plant <br />would necessitate construction of a new permanent waste rock stockpile and runoff <br />retention /sedimentation pond at the Mine site. The coal in the Cameo Seam is ranked as high - <br />volatile C bituminous coal but a higher quality product achieved with the air jig plant would meet <br />a wider array of contract specifications. Cleaned coal would be transported by truck to a new <br />coal storage location, loading facilities, and rail spur at the proposed Fruita Loadout Facility <br />located west of the old Fruita Refinery in Mesa County (Map 1). Coal produced by the Mine <br />would be transported from the Loadout Facility by Union Pacific Railroad to new markets east <br />and west of Colorado. <br />BLM administers the federal coal leasing program under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920. A <br />federal coal lease grants the lessee the exclusive right to obtain a mining permit, which would <br />allow coal mining on the leased tract, and be subject to the terms of the lease, the mining <br />permit, and applicable state and federal laws. Before a new lease can be mined, the lessee <br />must obtain approval of a detailed permit to conduct mining operations. <br />After a lease has been issued by the BLM but prior to mine development, the lessee must file a <br />permit application package with the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />(DRMS) for a mining permit and approval of the mining plan. An analysis of the detailed site - <br />specific mining and reclamation plan occurs at that time, which involves the determination of <br />potential effects on federally listed threatened and endangered species. As part of this analysis, <br />the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) serves as the Federal <br />contact for coal permitting actions and serves as the lead agency on Endangered Species Act <br />(ESA) section 7 consultations. <br />OSM, in coordination with BLM, has prepared this Biological Assessment (BA) for submittal to <br />the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Western Colorado Ecological Services Field Office, <br />Grand Junction, Colorado. The purpose of this BA is to evaluate effects of the Proposed Action <br />- construction and operation of the McClane Canyon Mine expansion and lease modification, <br />and construction and operation of the Fruita Loadout Facility - in sufficient detail to determine <br />effects on federally listed endangered, threatened, and species proposed for listing. Section 7 <br />of the ESA, as amended, requires federal agencies to consult with the FWS to ensure that any <br />action the agency authorizes, funds, or implements is not likely to jeopardize the continued <br />existence of a listed species, threaten a species, or result in the destruction or adverse <br />modification of designated critical habitat (16 United States Code (USC) section <br />1536((a)(2)(1988)). This BA is intended to fulfill the consultation requirements of section 7(a)(2) <br />associated with the Proposed Action by providing adequate detail to determine potential effects <br />to the ESA - listed threatened and endangered species and designated critical habitats. <br />1 <br />