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BLM Uncompahgre Field Office Sunset Trail Area Coal Exploration Plan EA <br />U.S. Department of the Interior <br />Bureau of Land Management <br />Uncompahgre Field Office <br />2465 South Townsend Avenue <br />Montrose, CO 81401 <br />ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT <br />NUMBER: DOI- BLM -CO -5050- 2013 -0027 EA <br />CASEFILE /PROJECT NUMBER: COC -1362 and COC -67232 <br />PROJECT NAME: Sunset Trail Area Coal Exploration Plan <br />LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Township 14 South, Range 90 West, portions of Sectionsl0, 11, 14 and <br />15,6 1h Prime Meridian, Gunnison County, Colorado. <br />APPLICANT: Ark Land Company on behalf of Mountain Coal Company. <br />1.0 PURPOSE AND NEED FOR THE PROPOSED ACTION <br />1.1 Introduction <br />Ark Land Company (ALC) submitted a coal exploration plan for the Sunset Trail Area (Ark Land <br />Company, 2013) on behalf of Mountain Coal Company (MCC) to the Bureau of Land Management <br />(BLM) Colorado State Office on April 3, 2013 per 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3482.1(a) <br />based on rights granted in their lease agreements under Part 1, Section 2 including the right to drill <br />for coal deposits in the lease. The plan addresses exploration to evaluate the coal reserves and <br />quality of coal seams within the Mesa Verde Formation in federal coal leases COC -1362 and COC- <br />67232. <br />The BLM reviewed the exploration plan, and deemed it complete on April 23, 2013. <br />Current reserves at the West Elk Mine are estimated to last 9 to 11 years. Exploration according to <br />the plan would provide additional data regarding the amount and quality of coal on the federal <br />leases. The data obtained would be used to determine whether any additional mineable reserves are <br />in the lease modification areas of federal coal leases COC -1362 and COC- 67232. <br />1.2 Background <br />In 2009, ALC and MCC requested modifications to increase the size of their federal coal leases. <br />The federal mineral estate is managed by the BLM; the surface estate is managed by the Grand <br />Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forest (GMUG). GMUG consented to BLM's <br />modifications of the existing leases. The GMUG evaluated the impacts in an environmental impact <br />statement (FEIS) (USFS, 2012a), then issued a record of decision (ROD) (USFS, 2012b) consenting <br />to the lease modifications. The BLM was a cooperating agency on the FEIS and relied on these <br />documents in evaluating the impacts of this action. Subsequently, the BLM issued their own ROD <br />and authorized the lease modifications. <br />June 2013 <br />