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Show FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CON-TACT: Barbara J. West, Office of Surface Mining, REGION V, Brooks Towers, 1020 15th Street, Denver, Colorado 80202. SUPPLEMENTAL IN-FORMATONI: Under Section 522 of the Surface Mining Reclamation and Control Act of 1977 and its implementing regulations, persons with interests which are or may be adversely affected by surface coal mining operations may petition the Office of Surface Mining to have an area desiganted as unsuitable for all or certain types of surface coal mining operations. In the petition submitted to OSM, the petitioners allege that (1) the lands in question could not be reclaimed in accordance with the requirements of the Act; (2) surface coal mining operations could result in significant damage to important historic, cultural, scientific, and aesthetic values and natural systems of fragile lands; and (3) such operations could result in a substantial loss or reductin of long-range productivity of water supply or of food or fiber products, including damage to aquifers and aquifer recharge areas of renewable resource lands. The proximity of mineable coal lands to Bryce Canyon National Park and the Dixie National Forest and the possible adverse affects of mining on the Park and Forest are of particular concern to the petitioners. After completion of the analyses and hearing mentioned above, the Department can designate the area or a portion thereof as unsuitable for all or certain types of surface coal mining operations (which includes the surface effects of underground mining). The agency may also find the area as suitable for surface coal mining operations. Information on which to base analyses of the issues raised by the petitioners is being sought from all interested parties. Donald A. Crane Regional Director Published in the Garfield County News Jan. 31, Feb. 7, 1980. |