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Environmental Resources Summary <br />The Coal Basin permit area is characterized by a diverse climate due to the high elevation and <br />precipitous rise in elevation. The lowest point within the permit area is the preparation plant area <br />(junction of Coal and Dutch Creeks) at 8,000 feet and the highest point is along Huntsman Ridge at <br />11,852 feet. As a result, temperature, precipitation and wind conditions are quite variable <br />throughout the permit area. Winters in Coal Basin are long, with snowfall beginning in October and <br />continuing through May. The growing season is short. In the preparation plant area, the growing <br />season extends from May through September (170 days) with about 90 frost -free days. At the <br />mine portals, all above 10,000 feet in elevation, the growing season extends from mid -May through <br />mid - September (130 days) with only 60 frost -free days. <br />Terrain <br />in the <br />Coal Basin is steep, varying from 15% <br />to more than 40 %. An estimated 60% <br />of Coal <br />Basin <br />exceeds a 25% slope. Gently sloping <br />ground is limited to high glaciated <br />bowls <br />in the <br />southern part of the basin. Landslide or <br />slumpage areas are natural occurrences <br />in the permit area. <br />The Coal Basin Mine is located on the southeast edge of the Piceance Basin within the Coal Basin. <br />The Coal Basin is an eroded anticline superimposed on the Grand Hogback Monocline. The strata <br />of Coal Basin consist primarily of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale and Mesaverde Group. The Mancos <br />Shale which consists of silty shale to shaley siltstone makes up the vast majority of the floor of Coal <br />Basin. The overlying Mesaverde Group consists mainly of shale bed interspersed with sandstone <br />units. The coal seams mined at Coal Basin were the "B" bed and the "Middle" bed within the <br />Williams Fork Formation of the Mesaverde Group. <br />The primary stream in Coal Basin is Coal Creek, a perennial stream, which is tributary to the Crystal <br />River and consists of eight tributary streams. The stream drains an area of approximately 26.6 <br />square miles (see map on page 21). <br />Six streams in Coal Basin whose upper drainages originate in the mine lease area are, in clockwise <br />direction around the basin starting from the lower (southeasterly) end are Bear Creek, South Fork <br />of Dutch Creek, North Fork of Dutch Creek, Oilwell Creek, Coal Creek and Porcupine Creek. Each of <br />these streams is ephemeral on the lease tract and become perennial down gradient toward the <br />facilities area. <br />Surface runoff from mine disturbed areas was routed through sediment ponds. Five small area <br />exemptions were approved which exempted specific areas from construction of a sediment pond. <br />Since the mine opened prior to the requirement to salvage topsoil, no topsoil was salvaged on most <br />2 <br />