Opinion ID: 415230
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Mine

Text: 12 In July 1973 Decker filed an Application for Prospecting Permit with MDSL for exploration by rotary drill holes in Big Horn County, Montana. The site, known as East Decker, is east of the Tongue River Reservoir directly across from another Decker mining area, dubbed West Decker. Decker had acquired a perpetual coal lease for this area in September 1971. 13 The East Decker site lies, in part, within the Deer Creek floodplain, through which Deer Creek flows on its way to Tongue River Reservoir. Deer Creek has a drainage area of approximately 50 square miles and its floodplain contains riparian timber, shrub habitat and significant wildlife. 14 Decker's permit application specified the acreage to be disturbed, the method of prospecting, the mineral sought, and included a Detailed Prospecting Reclamation Plan with maps. In its reclamation plan, Decker stated: 2. The Company assures the Department of State Lands that the area covered by the application for prospecting permit includes no land having special, exceptional, critical, or unique characteristics as defined in Section 9(2) (a, b, c, d) Chapter 325, Laws of Montana 1973. 7 15 Decker went on to say that based on interviews with local residents of the community, no archaeological, historical, ethnological and cultural values would, to Decker's knowledge, be affected. Nor would the use, enjoyment, or fundamental character of neighboring lands with such characteristics be adversely affected. Decker promised MDSL that should any characteristics of Section 9 lands be encountered it would cease prospecting, notify MDSL immediately, and reclaim all disturbances within the area having those characteristics. 8 The Application for Prospecting Permit and appended Detailed Prospecting Reclamation Plan were filed as required by the Montana Strip and Underground Mine Reclamation Act, 1975 Mont.Laws ch. 441, sec. 14, and by the regulations adopted by MDSL pursuant thereto, Mont.Admin.Code §§ 26-2.10(10)-S10270 to -350 (1973). 9 16 On July 23, 1973, MDSL issued Decker a permit allowing Decker to prospect on the lands in question, according to the procedures and assurances which it had set forth in its permit application. This permit was reissued on September 21, 1973, and renewed on September 20, 1974. In the 1974 renewal MDSL stated that the permit in no way implies future Department approval of any area for mining, and attached a MDSL letter spelling out the requirements vis-a-vis the nearby Tongue River Reservoir so that no water pollution should occur. 10 17 Finally, on April 9, 1975, Decker submitted an application for a strip mining permit to MDSL. Included in the application was a proposal to place overburden and spoil materials into the Deer Creek floodplain, to divert Deer Creek from its original channel, and to affect Deer Creek drainage in other ways. Decker submitted archaeological, ecological and topographic data with the application and stated that the area did not encompass any Section 9 lands. Appended to the application was a 1973 Historic and Archaeologic Resources Impact Appraisal which included an evaluation of the proposed mining area. According to Decker, this report, prepared by Western Interpretive Services, indicated a low probability of the area possessing special characteristics as set forth in Section 9. 11