2012-06-20_PERMIT FILE - C2010089A (19)

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1963, Peabody Coal Company (PCC) purchased the mine and renamed it the Nucla Mine and operated it until 1983 when the power plant was temporarily deactivated. The mine was placed into an inactive status in 1988. Tri-State Generating Company purchased the power plant and reconstructed the power plant using a new boiler technology called the recirculating fluidized type power plant. Associated with the reconstruction of the power plant, Western Fuels - Colorado (WFC), a subsidiary of Tri -State purchased the Nucla Mine in 1992 and renamed it the New Horizon Mine. Most of the existing New Horizon Mine operations are located to the west of the town of Nucla, and to the south of the old Navajo and Nucla Mine sites. Lands within the current mine permit area are called the NH2 Mine Area. Portions of the proposed NHN Mine area have been disturbed by previous mining activities conducted by PCC. PCC submitted an application for the Nucla Mine in April 1981, and in May 1983, Permit No. C- 008 -81 was issued by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division. The February 1, 1980 aerial photography submitted with the PCC permit application shows that portion of the south east area of the Rice tract, north of AA Rd, was already mined by this time. Subsequent aerial photography dated April 19, 1986 shows that the southern area of this tract was largely mined out at that time. Another aerial photograph dated August 1993 shows that the entire area associated with the NH1 Mine Area had been reclaimed. It appears that some grading with the existing drainage swale had just been finished. The swale flows largely across the south central portion of this site. Mr. Ross Gubka, the New Horizon Mine Chief Engineer confirms that WFC had to do some regrading to establish positive flow across all of the old PCC reclamation at the NH1 Mine. PCC later incorporated the geographically separate Nucla East Mine into the permit in 1989. In 1992, the mining permit (C- 1981 -008) was transferred to Western Fuels- Colorado (WFC), and the two permit areas were renamed the New Horizon 1 (NH1) and New Horizon 2 (NH2) Mines. All mining at NH1 (formerly the Nucla Mine) was completed by PCC, while mining at NH2 (formerly Nucla East Mine) has been conducted solely by WFC. The remaining 103.42 acres of the NH1 Mine, also known as the Rice tract, is now being incorporated into the NHN Mine permit and will be subsequently released from the New Horizon Mine permit. Map 2.04.3 -2 - Mining Activities in Permitted and Adjacent Areas delineates areas previously mined, including "pre -law" disturbance, NH1 and NH2 permit area boundaries and areas of previous coal extraction within these permit boundaries Recent Changes in Land Uses within the proposed New Horizon North Mine Permit Area In order to determine whether there have been any changes of land use within the preceding five years, we consulted with various individuals who own the properties which are the focus of this evaluation or talked to knowledgeable individuals who have either lived on the properties or adjacent to the subject properties. The individuals consulted included Mr. Joe Garvey, who lives immediately to the west of the subject property and has lived in this area all of this life. He provided excellent background on the current management practices on the Garvey Property. In fact, he described how as a teenage, he used to irrigate and haul hay on the property now called Section 2.04.3 Page 2 November 2011