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SUMMARY <br />The Review Process <br />The original Bowie No. 2 Mine permit application was submitted by Bowie Resources Limited <br />on February 13, 1996. The permit was issued on April 4, 1997, with an expiration date of April <br />4, 2002, and has since been renewed for a current expiration date of April 4, 2012. The Division, <br />with this permit revision application, is concurrently reviewing a third renewal application for a <br />permit term to expire on April 4, 2017. <br />Since the first permit application was approved for the mine, the Division has reviewed <br />applications for twelve permit revisions, 76 technical revisions, 135 minor revisions, and three <br />successions of operator. The approved revisions have increased the permit area by 5,974 acres, <br />and allowed for the conversion from a one seam continuous miner /room and pillar operation to a <br />longwall operation in two seams. Four gob piles have been approved for construction, and a unit <br />train loadout was added. <br />Description of the Environment <br />The coal and the surface lands within the present permit area are both federally and privately <br />owned. Of the 9,197 acres of proposed permit area, a total of 365.1 acres are approved for <br />surface disturbance. Surface disturbance includes facilities areas, roads, sedimentation ponds, <br />gob piles, gob vent boreholes, ventilation shafts, and a unit train loadout. <br />The original Bowie No. 2 Mine permit application indicated that mining would be conducted in <br />the D Seam using the room and pillar mining method. Permit Revision No. 3 changed the <br />mining method to longwall mining but kept the rate of production at two million tons per year. <br />Approval of Permit Revision No. 3 increased maximum mine production to five million tons per <br />year. Approval of Permit Revision No. 6 increased coal production to six million tons per year. <br />Approval of Permit Revision No. 7 permitted the construction of portals and facilities to mine the <br />B -2 coal seam. The five year B -2 coal seam mine plan was approved through Permit Revision <br />No. 8. Current mining is in the B -2 coal seam. PR -13 proposes to revise the mine plan in the B- <br />2 coal seam and extend the proposed mine plan to the north through the acquisition of two lease <br />modifications. Detailed information regarding the Bowie No. 2 Mine and BRL is located in the <br />eleven volumes which comprise the Bowie No. 2 Mine permit application document. <br />The Bowie No. 2 Mine is located in Delta County, approximately five (5) miles northeast of <br />Paonia, Colorado. The mine permit area is located on lands depicted on the U.S. Geological <br />Survey 7.5 minute Bowie Quadrangle Map, and the Bowie No. 2 mine portals are located <br />northwest of the Old King Mine portals (also known as the Bowie Mine). The surface facilities <br />are located north and south of Old State Highway 133 near the old townsite of Bowie. The mine <br />is located between Stevens Gulch and Hubbard Creek. A portion of the surface facilities is <br />within 100 feet of the outside right -of -way of old State Highway 133. The location of these <br />facilities extends from the old townsite of Bowie to about 500 feet east of the old Bowie power <br />plant. <br />6 <br />