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Black Butte Coal Company- Black Butte Mine of Point of Rocks, WY Permit No. PT0467-T8 has applied for Phase 2 & 3 Incremental Bond Release from the Land Quality Division of the Department of Environmental Quality for the State of Wyoming. This mine permit was originally approved on 12/27/1977. The coal mine permit area is located in all or portions of the following: Section 6, T17N, R100W; Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10 in T17N, R101W; T18N, R100W; Sections 1, 11, 12, 14, 23, 26, 27, 33, 34, 35, and 36, in T18N, R100W; T19N, R100W of Sweetwater County, WY. The Black Butte Mine is located approximately 12 miles south of Point of Rocks in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. This area can be found on the Point of Rocks SE, Black Buttes, Bitter Creek, Bitter Creek NW, and Bitter Creek NE USGS quadrangle maps. The parcels to be released from bond are located in Sections 1, 2, 10, 11, 14, and 15 in T18N, R100W; Section 31 in T19N, R99W; Sections 25, 26, 34, 35, and 36 in T19N, R100W. This bond release request includes 1531.03 acres and is for the completion of vegetation establishment and the stabilization of the surface of reclaimed lands, according to the approved reclamation plan. Seeding and vegetation establishment on these lands occurred between 1986 and 2007. The bond release request includes 1531.03 acres of Category V land that qualify for Phase 2 release of $631,550 and 1531.03 acres of Category V land that qualify for Phase 3
release of $1,052,583. The total bond requested for release is 1,684,133. The parcels qualify for full release as they have been backfilled, contoured, had soil replaced, farming completed, and vegetation has passed the required verifications for revegetation success to return lands to wildlife habitat and grazing land.
Information regarding the mining operation, reclamation procedures and areas proposed for release may be reviewed in the Office of the Land Quality Division of the Department of Environmental Quality in Cheyenne and Lander, or the office of Black Butte Coal Company in Point of Rocks, WY. Written objections to the proposed bond release request must be received by the Administrator of the Land Quality Division, Department of Environmental Quality, 200 W. 17th Street, Suite10, Cheyenne, WY 82002, before the close of business December 1st, 2023. Objections may also be submitted by the same deadline via the Land Quality Division's electronic comment portal at http://lq.wyomingdeq.commentinut.com/. If written objections are filed, and a public hearing is requested, the Environmental Quality Council shall hold a public hearing within sixty (60) days after the final date for filing objections unless a different period is stipulated by all patties. The Council shall publish notice of the time, date and location of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the proposed operation once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks immediately prior to the hearing. The hearing shall be conducted as a contested case in accordance with the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act (W.S. §16-3-101 through §16-3-115), with a right of judicial review as provided in that act. Without prejudice to the objector or applicant's right to a hearing before the Council, the Administrator may hold an informal conference to resolve written objections after notification to all parties. The Administrator shall make a record of the conference unless waived by all parties, which shall be accessible to all parties. The Administrator shall furnish all parties of the
conference with a written finding of the Division based on the conference, and the reasons for
the finding.
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