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Wash flow primarily in response to direct precipitation. The White River is a perennial stream <br />receiving discharge from the permit and adjacent areas. The majority of flows in the White <br />River occur between May and July in response to snowmelt. <br />Soils in the area include the Cushman, Forelle, Pinelli, Potts, Satanka and Worfka series, which <br />are developed on ridge tops, ridge sideslopes, and in valley fans. Underdeveloped soils such as <br />Colorado, Haverson alkali phase, Kinnear, Moyerson, Redcreek, Rentsac, and Turley variant <br />occur on low floodplains, extreme ridge tops, and upper ridge sideslopes. <br />Eight plant communities have been identified in the permit area to be affected by surface <br />operations and facilities. Vegetation communities consist of juniper woodland, juniper <br />woodland -big sagebrush, big sagebrush, big sagebrush - wheatgrass, western wheatgrass, <br />Colorado wildrye, cheatgrass- annual forb, and big sagebrush - greasewood. These communities <br />comprise a mosaic controlled by soil type, topography, and past and present land uses. Historic <br />grazing practices may have contributed to the extent of the cheatgrass -annual forb vegetation <br />type throughout the permit area. The permit area is currently used as winter /spring range for <br />domestic sheep. <br />Wildlife species found within the permit area include mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), <br />pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana), and greater sage grouse (Centrocercus <br />urophasianus). Numerous raptor species have been identified in the area. Species include the <br />ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis), turkey vulture (Cathortes aura), marsh hawk (Cireus <br />cyaneus), American kestrel (Falco sparverius), sharp - shinned hawk (Accipter shiatus), <br />burrowing owl (Spestyto cunieulaira), red - tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicaensus), and golden eagle <br />(Aquila chrysauetos). Bald eagles (Hliaeetus leucocephalus) and peregrine falcons (Falco <br />seregrinus) are known to migrate through the area. Large white- tailed prairie dog (Cynomys <br />leucurus) towns exist in the area of the refuse disposal sites. <br />Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br />The Deserado Mine is an underground operation utilizing both continuous miners and longwall <br />mining equipment to extract the "D" (upper) and "B" (lower) coal seams. Mining operations <br />conducted during previous permit terms have extracted the D seam. D seam mining was <br />completed, and B seam mining commenced in 1999, and will continue during the current permit <br />term. <br />Raw coal is transported out of the mine by conveyor to the DB -Portal Area wash plant where <br />the coal is crushed and cleaned. The coal is then transported 3.1 miles to the rail loadout facility <br />via an over -land conveyor system. The coal is conveyed to the slot storage building, which can <br />store up to 25,000 tons of coal. From this building coal is conveyed 1800 feet to the loadout <br />area. Clean coal is then transported by electric rail to the Bonanza Power Plant in Vernal, Utah. <br />The rail loop and facilities within the rail loop were removed from the permit and the <br />reclamation plan with the approval of Permit Revision 04. The loadout tower will remain in the <br />permit and reclamation plan as will all of the structures that convey the coal to that point. Blue <br />Mountain Energy will keep all operations related to the mining operations and the loading and <br />E <br />