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Gunni s on Gunnison County Board of County Commissioners <br />D'L1I1ti Phone: (970) 641 -0248 • Fax: (970) 641 -3061 <br />Email: bocc @gunnisoncounty.org • www.GunnisonCounty.org <br />COLORADO <br />December 20, 2011 <br />Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />Room 215 <br />1313 Sherman St. <br />Denver, CO 80203 <br />Re: EIk Creek Mine (Permit No. C- 1981 -022) <br />Technical Revision Application No. 73 (TR -73) <br />Construct and Operate Methane Fueled Electricity Generator and Relocation of Alluvial <br />Monitoring Well. <br />To Whom It May Concern: <br />RECEIVED <br />DEC 2 7 2011 <br />Division of Neciamason, <br />Mining and Safety <br />Gunnison County has designated the North Fork Valley Coal Resource Special Area and has adopted <br />the Coal Resource Special Area Coal Mining Regulations. In those Regulations, Gunnison County <br />recognizes that coal is a resource valuable to the United States, Colorado and Gunnison County that <br />deserves to be extracted and put to use. <br />To that end Gunnison County generally supports the ability of coal companies to access areas for <br />venting underground mines for miner safety and continued operation. More particularly, Gunnison <br />County strongly supports exploring options to recover methane from active and inactive coal mines so <br />that the resource is used as efficiently as possible and to reduce the emission of this significant <br />greenhouse gas. <br />Gunnison County participated in the 2008 Upper Gunnison River Watershed Greenhouse Gas <br />Emissions Inventory, which identified the EIk Creek Mine as a significant emitter of methane gas, <br />equivalent to more than 1% of the State of Colorado's "carbon footprint ". Thus converting the <br />methane to electricity could substantially help lower greenhouse emissions. <br />Please help ensure the resource gets used efficiently while reducing greenhouse emissions and <br />protecting our coal mining economy in your deliberations on this technical revision of the EIk Creek <br />Mine permit. <br />Sincerely, <br />�'1yL <br />1 <br />Hap C anne , Chairperson Paula Swenson, Commissioner Phil Chamberland, Commissioner <br />200 East Virginia Avenue • Gunnison, CO 81230 <br />