1988-08-19_PERMIT FILE - C1981008A

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TAB 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Nucla Mine is located in Montrose County, Colorado, approximately 2.5 miles northwest of the town of Nucla. Peabody Coal Company has been operating the Nucla Mine since its purchase from Edna Coal Company in 1963. The first permits were required in 1969. From 1969 to 1974, six permits were issued by the State of Colorado, each affective for a one year period. These include permits 4, 14, 28, 33, 40 and 48. In order to establish a permit term consistent with the Colorado Open Mining Reclamation Act (of July 1, 1976) , Permit 48-1A (approved May 28, 1976) extended the term of Permit 48 to July 1, 1979. Shortly after the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act became effective (August 3, 1977) , another Permit, No. 75-36, was granted (September 20, 1977) to expand Nucla Mine to a life-of-mine permit. On April 18, 1980, an application to amend Permit No. 75-36 was submitted. The amended permit, Permit 75-36A was approved August 15, 1980. In December, 1980 a Technical Revision to Permit 75-36A was submitted to include one other tract of land near the former office and shop area in the permit area. Upon approval of the Colorado permanent regulatory program under SMCRA, repermitting of Nucla Mine was initiated. This resulted in a new permit, C-008-81 (granted May 26, 1983) , which included areas in Permits 75-36A, 75-36 and 48-1A, totalling 393 acres. The expiration date of C-008-81 (the current permit) is May 26, 1993. In September, 1983, due to a closing of the Colorado Ute Nucla Generating Station, the Nucla Mine went into a temporary cessation of operations. Subsequently, the Nucla Generating Station has been retrofitted to include circulating fluidized-bed combustion boilers. Starting in 1987, Colorado Ute is conducting test burns of the new boilers for approximately two years. During this test burn phase, coal having differing quality characteristics will be evaluated in order to optimize 1-1 Revised 08/19/88