2015-07-15_REPORT - M1988044 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

D. Deviation from original elevation for new backfilled land - Those deviations have only approximately been taken into account, but as the filling continues and a more finished condition is approached elevation deviations will need to be considered more. 3. Processing facilities - Nothing has changed here. 4. Access corridors - No change in access corridors. New soil and overburden stockpiles - A tiny soil stockpile has been established north of the existing pit. This will likely grow in the future. Currently it contains only a couple hundred cubic yards of material and is only two or three feet deep. RECLAMATION ACTIVITY IN THE LAST YEAR: Climatic summary of previous year - The following graphs on separate pages show the climatic patterns from 2012 through the first half of 2015. These data are for the official weather stations for Denver and Centennial (Englewood). As has been previously determined, the Coal Creek site, on average tends to be somewhat cooler and wetter than DIA, but the overall pattern at DIA is largely applicable to the specific Coal Creek area. The official record for the Centennial Station is used as it is closer to Coal Creek and also provides some comparison with Denver. The Centennial station is comparatively new and so the long term record for that location is not present, but from 2012 to 2015 the record is complete and fully comparable with Denver data. Past examinations showed that the stations surrounding Coal Creek (Bennett, Parker, and Cherry Creek Dam) were about 5 to 10 percent wetter and a couple of degrees cooler, on average, than DIA. However, consistency in the differences is often lacking on the annual scale with the three nearby stations showing more variation between themselves than the average of the three stations vary from DIA. Also, because recent records from those stations are often not continuous the data set itself for each station shows high variance. The record shows that from 2012 until September 2013 precipitation was below normal and temperature was above average for both stations. Thus, the summer of 2013 was unusually dry and hot. Vegetation was undoubtedly stressed by the lack of moisture and the high temperatures and, in fact, grass dormancy set in a bit earlier than usual resulting in a fairly brown prairie through the summer. On September 10 this pattern very abruptly changed with higher than normal precipitation and normal to slightly below normal temperatures. September was also the month that Colorado experienced a huge flood event primarily to the northwest of this area. Nevertheless, Coal Creek ran high several times, but not nearly to the extent of streams and rivers that begin in the mountains. After September temperature rose back to somewhat higher than normal and precipitation declined back down to a pattern similar to the summer. In 2014, the record for the two stations changed. Centennial experienced slightly below average precipitation for the entire year and ended with 16.03 inches. Meanwhile, Denver was above average essentially the entire year and ended with 18.77 inches. That is basically a Status report for 2015 due July 15, 2015 Page 4 of 10