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The Cordero Rojo Mine of Gillette, Wyoming Permit No. 237-T11 has applied for Area, Phase 1 and Phase 2 Incremental bond release from the Land Quality Division of the Department of Environmental Quality for the State of Wyoming. This permit was originally approved on January 9, 1975. The coal mining permit area is located in: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16, T46N, R71W, Sections 6 and 7, T47N, R70W, and Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 45, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, and 36, T47N R71W, Campbell County, County, Wyoming. The permit area is approximately twenty-two (22) miles south of Gillette, Wyoming on Campbell County T-7 Road. This area can be found on the Gap SW, Saddle Horse Butte, Neil Butte, and Eagle Rock USGS quadrangle map(s). The parcels to be released from bond are located in Sections 2 and 3 of T46N, R71W and Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 26, 34 and 35 of T47N, R71W. This bond release request includes 562.0 acres of Area and Phase 1 bond release, 505.1 acres of Phase 2 bond release, and 1,662.0 acres of Area, Phase 1 and Phase 2 bond release. This results in a total of 2,224 acres of Area and Phase 1 Bond Release and 2,167.1 acres of Phase 2 Bond Release requested. This request is to obtain Phase 1 Incremental Bond Release on areas with topsoil replacement between 2019 and 2023 and obtain Phase 2 Incremental Bond Release on areas reclaimed between 2013 and 2018 with surficial stability and vegetation established.
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 Sheridan, Wyoming. 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, Suite 10, Cheyenne, WY 82002 before the close of business December 14, 2023. Objections may also be submitted by the same deadline via the Land Quality Division’s electronic comment portal at http://lq.wyomingdeq.commentinput.com/. If written objections are filed, and a public hearing is requested, the Environmental Quality Council (Council) shall hold a public hearing within sixty (60) days after the final date for filing objections unless a different period is stipulated to by all parties. 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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