2012-11-26_REVISION - C1981019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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gtyF per y� FISH & W IMLIFE SER United States Department of the Interior VICE a FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICEgs Cly 3 Ecological Services 764 Horizon Drive, Building B Grand Junction, Colorado 81506 -3946 IN REPLY REFER TO: ES /GJ- 6- CO -04 -F- 012 -YP039 TAILS 06E24100- 2013 -F -0013 October 30, 2012 Memorandum To ; Natural Resource Specialist, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement, Western Region Office, Denver, Colorado From: Western Colorado Supervisor, Fish and ildl' e ervi , Ecological Services, Grand Junction, Colorado / /A� Subject: Section 7 Consultation for the Collom Expansion of the Colowyo Mine owned by the Colowyo Coal Company, Colorado State Permit C- 1981 -019 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) received your September 4, 2012 request for formal section 7 consultation on September 10, 2012, regarding the Collom Expansion of the Colowyo Mine by the Colowyo Coal Company L.P. ( Colowyo), Moffat County, Colorado. In accordance with Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et. seq.) (ESA) and the Interagency Cooperation Regulations (50 CFR 402), we transmit this correspondence to serve as the final biological opinion (BO) for the project. Due to water depletions, the project would adversely affect the four endangered fish in the Upper Colorado River Basin and their critical habitats: Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius), razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus), humpback chub (Gila cypha), and bonytail (Gila elegans). You determined in your consultation request letter than the humpback chub and razorback sucker would not be affected by the proposed project. However, all four endangered fish and /or their critical habitats are found in the Yampa River system, downstream from the project site. Project- related depletions would adversely affect all four of these endangered fish species. The project would also impact the greater sage - grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), a Federal candidate species for listing under the ESA. The coal mine is approximately 28 miles south of the town of Craig, Colorado on state, private, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Colowyo is proposing to expand the current permit boundary to incorporate the Collom Area (16,833 acres), for a total permit area of 29,084 acres. The proposed surface mining area within the permit revision would include a total disturbed area of approximately 2,244 acres. Accounting for noncontributory mine inflow, surface dust controls, and evaporative losses from drainage controls, Colowyo estimates that its