Laserfiche WebLink
Dan Hernandez <br />June 3, 2013 <br />Page 9 <br />adjacent areas: the Corley Mine Well, the Corley Company Well and the Thompson Well. The <br />Corley Mine Well produces water from mine workings in the Vermejo Formation. The Corley <br />Company Well produces from the Raton Formation. The Thompson Well is within the pen-nit <br />area and was developed in a localized coarse gravel lens on top of sandstone above the Rex <br />Carbon Seam. <br />The Corley Company Well is located approximately 800 feet from the permit boundary, which <br />coincides with the affected area boundary, and its completion zone in the Raton Formation is at <br />least 400 feet strati graphically above the coal seams that were mined. Drawdown effects to the <br />Corley Company Well would not be expected to be present. Annual Hydrology Reports <br />submitted since 1986 indicate no drawdown effect is occurring. <br />The Corley Mine Well is located approximately 1,400 feet from the permitted area boundary. <br />This well produces approximately 60 gpm from the abandoned workings of the Corley Mine. <br />EFCI has the rights to this water and uses the water in mining and processing operations by <br />pumping it to a storage pond (Pond 3) and recycling it through Pond 2. To date, no significant <br />drawdown effects have resulted from this use and none are anticipated. <br />A well permit was issued for the Thompson Well in 1941. The total depth of the well is 338, <br />into the Rex Carbon coal seam, although the source of water is a thin unit above sandstone at a <br />depth of about 320 feet. Subsequently, the Rex Carbon Underground Mine was developed <br />beneath this area and eventually encountered the well casing. A pipe was connected to the well <br />within the mine workings and water was routed to the surface as a water supply for the <br />Thompson Ranch. At present, the pipe within the mine has been damaged. The casing at the <br />surface has been obstructed; consequently, both mine and Division personnel have been unable <br />to detect any water level within the casing. Available information on the well indicates it is, at <br />present, abandoned. Extensive drilling adjacent to this area by the operator did not reveal any <br />laterally continuous aquifer that could serve as a regional water source. <br />Current Groundwater Monitoring Plan <br />Dorchester Coal Company maintained a system of groundwater monitoring wells on the mine <br />site property since August, 1979. The current operator, EFCI has continued the monitoring <br />program. Some wells have been added to the program and others have been taken out of service. <br />The approved groundwater monitoring program includes the following four monitoring wells <br />MW -16, MW -23, MW -65, and MW -NW. All of these wells are completed in the Jack <br />O'Lantern or Red Arrow Coal Seam. Monitoring wells MW -7A, MW -713, MW -8, MW -10, and <br />MW -22 were previously included in the monitoring program, but have since been mined - through <br />and eliminated from ongoing monitoring. A former mine dewatering well known as the North <br />Well was originally used to dewater abandoned mine workings in the Red Arrow Coal Seam <br />north of the main mine entries. EFCI discontinued its use as a dewatering well in 1994, later <br />removing the pump and associated equipment. In 2003, it was converted to and approved for use <br />as a monitoring well designated MW -NW. However, MW -NW has been reported as dry since <br />monitoring was initiated in early 2003 and there is no water level or water quality data available <br />for this well. Nevertheless, water monitoring well MW -NW is presently the subject of DRMS <br />