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. . . 0897 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 0f'1"1<:1I: 01" THII: SECFlIETARY ilCUTMWI.,. 1'"111.1:1 COMMITTII P. O. BOX 787 A!.IIiUQUIIl"QUI. NEW MIXICO January 30, :1.9.53 My dear Colonel Barnesl Reference is made to letter dated December 1, 19.52, to you from John H. ;Elast, Jr., Regional Director, Bureau of Mines, Denver, Colorado, in response to your letter dated November 28, 19.52. Trans- mitted herewith is a report entitled "The Effect of the proposed Trinidad Reservoir on Coking Coal Reserves," 'which has been prepared jointly by geologists of , the U. S. Geological Survey and engineers of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. This report has been prepared in res- ponse to your request of November 28, 1952, for conunents on the prelim- inary report by.the Albuquerque District Oorps of Engineers on the Purgatoire River projoct, Las Animas County, Colorado. The prirl1ary responsibility of the Interior Department in con~ nection with the review of mineral reSOtU'ces. situation in the area of this report is to establish 1mether irreplacable loss of an essential resourCt3 will result from tht3 construction of this dam. The reserves of coking coal that yfill be affected by the reservoir are small compared with the total reserve for the entire area. Reserves of readiJ~y acces- sible and presently luinable coal are more affected as there will be in- creased cost of producing coal from less favorable locations. l'he coal that is adversely affected is not lost as a resource, although its re- covery during the life of the reservoir may be too expensive for a co~nercial enterprise to consider. The extent of adverse effects on the coal will depend largely upon the distance water from the proposed reservoir would penetrate coal beds and adjacent rock layers in the Trinidad Reservoir area. Some data are available on the permeabilities of these materials derived prin- cipally from reports on the amounts of water encountered in various mines in the area. Additional. data are needed tci evaluate the extent of pos-, sible water infiltration into coal and coal-bearing strata that crop out along the Purgatoire Valley and belov. the levels of the flood and res- ervoir pools of the proposed reservoir. If the area of infiltration is large and the tonnage of affected coal is substantial there may be claims for da.m.age that would add substantially to the "negative benefits" assessable to the dam and reservoir. The Bureau of Mines believes that a thorough re-examlnation of the damages and benefits of the reservoir should be undertaken. APPEND:tX G Exhibit No., 5 Page :j. of 2 j',-, ,J-'" .,{<;.i-_ :-." ,-" ""-~'" -,-,;.,-~ .