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Evaluation of Potential Subsidence Impacts of Longwall Mining in the Spruce Stomp Lease Area <br />to Aquatic Life and Water Supply <br />4.3.6 Other <br />The BLM and the Forest Service do not have any developed recreation facilities in the area but <br />some limited recreation such as hunting, four - wheeling and hiking occur (U.S. Department of the <br />Interior, 2005). <br />5.0 POTENTIAL MINING ACTIVITIES, ANTICIPATED SUBSIDENCE AND <br />PROJECT EFFECTS <br />Bowie is currently mining the upper B -seam coal in the Western Mining District area as shown <br />on Figure 2. The current mining includes a group of seven panels located west of Terror Creek. <br />Five of these panels are oriented in a north —south direction with two panels oriented in an east - <br />west direction. These panels are 850 to 880 feet wide, vary in length, and have an upper B -seam <br />overburden thickness between about 450 and 2,000 feet. <br />Within the Potential Project area, Bowie has already received approval for mining of four <br />longwall panels in the lower B -seam coal generally oriented in an east —west direction to the <br />north of their current operations and south of the West Fork Terror Creek. These panels are to be <br />880 feet wide with a maximum length of 5,200 feet. The lower B -seam overburden thickness in <br />this area is about 850 to 2,150 feet. Just north of these panels are the remaining eight panels of <br />the Potential Project (see Figure 2) which are also proposed to mine the lower B -seam coal. <br />These proposed eight longwall panels are within the Spruce Stomp Lease Area. These proposed <br />panels will be 880 feet wide, have lengths between 3,150 and 5.700 feet with lower B -seam <br />overburden thickness of between 950 and 2,300 feet. Four of the eight proposed panels in the <br />Spruce Stomp Lease Area are partly located beneath the channel of West Fork Terror Creek. <br />The lower B -seam overburden thickness along the West Fork Terror Creek channel ranges from <br />about 950 to 1,800 feet. <br />Surface activities proposed for the Potential Project area are limited; access is already provided <br />by the Stevens Gulch Road on the west and the Terror Creek Road on the east. As a result, the <br />primary surface effects are expected to be related to subsidence resulting from lower B -seam <br />121 - 014.000 Wright Water Engineers, Inc. Page 16 <br />January 2013 <br />