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water administration issues at the mine, and that the agency has no comments regarding this <br />renewal. The State Historic Preservation Officer responded to the Division on March 28, 2012 <br />(in a letter dated March 13, 2012) and stated that a finding of no historic properties affected is <br />appropriate for this renewal. <br />The three Agency comment letters were transmitted to GCC with the Division's Preliminary <br />Adequacy Review on July 23, 2012. GCC submitted an adequacy response package on August <br />3, 2012. Remaining adequacy items were successfully resolved with GCC's August 20, 2012 <br />package. <br />The Applicant Violator System (AVS) was queried by the Division on July 10, 2012 and again <br />on February 20, 2013 and March 4, 2013. No outstanding violations or issues were reported. <br />Description of the Environment <br />The King Coal Mine is located in La Plata County, Colorado approximately six miles southwest <br />of the town of Hesperus along County Road 120 in Hay Gulch. The permit area includes 2,658 <br />acres, covering portions of the Hesperus, Kline, Mormon Reservoir, and Thompson Park 7.5 <br />minute USGS quadrangle maps. The permit includes two distinct mining areas. The King I <br />Mine, which lies on the south side of Hay Gulch and County Road 120, has been mined out. The <br />King II Mine, where mining operations are presently active, is situated on the northern side of <br />Hay Gulch and to the west of King I. <br />The King I Mine covers 1,928 acres and is located in Sections 28, 29, 31 and 32 of T35N R1 1W; <br />Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 of T34N R1 1W; and Section 36 of T35N R12W; all in the N.M.P.M. The <br />King II Mine includes 730 acres in Sections 35 and 36 of T35N R12W, N.M.P.M. At King 1, <br />10.88 acres were disturbed by mining, and an additional 0.92 acres were disturbed for the gravel <br />road connection to County Road 120. An area of 22.36 acres has been disturbed at the King 11 <br />Mine, for a total combined surface disturbance of 34.16 acres. <br />Surface ownership within the King Coal Mine permit area is predominantly private (1,848 <br />acres). The State of Colorado owns 722 acres, while 88 acres are Federally owned (Bureau of <br />Land Management). <br />The King 11 Mine underground workings extend northward beyond the limits of the DRMS <br />permit. The Federal Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) <br />administers the mining permit (No. CO- 0106A) for this northern area, where the Ute Mountain <br />Ute tribe is the surface owner. Access and egress to and from these northern workings is gained <br />by way of the King II Mine portals. The extents of the two permit areas (DRMS and OSM) are <br />shown on Figure 1 of this document. <br />Land Use (2.04.3) <br />The Hay Gulch valley has historically been a coal producing area. Numerous abandoned <br />underground mines exist throughout the Hay Gulch drainage. However, except for the King <br />M <br />