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III IIIIIIIIIillllll Memorandum United States Department of the Interior OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING Reclamation and Enforcement WASHLIQGTON, D.C. 20240 i To: Acting Director .~~ ~~~ 4 Ij(1~~i From: l~i~"F~ssistant Director, Technical Services and Research Subject: Final Action on the Aft. Gunnison ~1 I4ine Plan, ARCO Coal Company We have reviewed the proposed Mt. Gunnison #1 Nine Plan approval document and find that the following information has surfaced since the Regional Director's recommendation letter was received. This new information should be considered in the approval of this mine plan. A request for an informal hearing per section 513(b) was filed with OSb1, and the informal meeting was completed on May 14, 1981. In accordance with section 514(a), approval or denial action should have been taken by July 13, 1981. However, final agree- ment on the permit stipulations with the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division, the Bureau of Land Management, and OSM was not reached until July 7, 1981, after which the Regional Solicitor initiated his review. The Solicitor's recommendation letter was received July 14, 1981. in the meantime, ARCO requested a "Formal Hearing" on the State's permit, and a hearing is scheduled for July 23, 1981. A decision could be made at this meeting or the decision could be continued until their next meeting. At this time, the stipulations in both the Colorado permit and the Federal permit closely resemble each other. Therefore, if changes do occur in the Colorado permit as a result of the hearing, these changes could result in .a conflict with the Federal stipulations. In order to expedite the approval of the mine plan and finally the permit, we recommend that the mine plan be approved by the Assistant Secretary, Energy and I4inerals with the stipulations that the permit will be withheld until the Secretary can be assured that changes, if any, resulting from the public hearing are compatible with the Federal permit stipulations.