2016-05-19_PERMIT FILE - C1982056A (2)

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The cropland, pastureland and rangeland areas are shown on Map 3, Premining Land Use. The underground mining •should not impact any of these uses. The cropland historically was used to grow wheat, while the pastureland and rangeland is used for grazing by cattle and sheep. It does not appear that any improvements, except for a pond fed by a small spring, have been made to the grazing properties. The pastures appear to be in fair condition for the type of grazing activities conducted in the area. As is shown on Map 3, Premining Land Use, an oil well was constructed within the southwest mining district. However, the well did not yield sufficient amounts of oil and was converted to a gas well. The well provided gas for a private residence. However, Twentymile has relocated the occupants of the residence and has purchased the gas well and plugged the well. resen y two active and one inactive residences were within the southwest mining district. Twentymile Coal Company owned one of the active residences, in addition to the inactive residence. Likewise, the remaining active residence, a mobile home, was under the control of Twentymile Coal Company and the family was moved out of the residence prior to longwall mining. County Road 27 is located over the longwall panels and was subsided as a result of Twentymiles mining activities. Discussions have been held with the Routt County Commissioners and the Road Department and no serious concerns were voiced over undermining the road. The County Engineer and his staff have been and will be consulted for the finalization of the road monitoring and repair plan. Likewise, both the Bureau of Land Management and the Mined Land Reclamation Division were required to hold a public hearing to discuss Twentymile's plan with the public. Anyone having concerns about subsiding the road were able to present them during the public hearing. The other lands noted as disturbed on Map 3, Premining Land Use, are ranch roads into the rangeland and oil well site. The roads will be used by the landowner and Twentymile is not liable for any disturbance to the roads except for the • repair that may be required due to subsidence. The Twentymile Sandstone outcrop was subsided by the mining that occurred in the Southwest Mining District. The major mitigation plans required in order to conduct the mining were as follows: 1) Routt County Road 27 relocation and protection, 2) captor protection plan, and 3) cultural resources mitigation plan. In reference to the Routt County Road 27 relocation and protection plan, TCC successfully relocated a segment of the road to its original course and placed two inches of asphalt overlay over the remainder of the road. The Routt County Road and Bridge Department were involved with this work and it was completed to their satisfaction. The other component of this plan was to construct a safety berm along selected segments of the road. The design of the berms i� presented in Exhibit 7F. The berms were installed and functioned as per the design, i.e. capture any rock spalling from the face of the Twentymile sandstone prior to its crossing the county road. As predicted the face spalled and rock varying from four square to four hundred square feet were captured by the berm. Observations made from the top of the berm were used to provide the above estimates. Also, as noted during the observation was that none of the rock appeared to crawl up the inside slope of the berm. It appears the rock hit perpendicular to the inside slope of the berm and stopped. This was exactly as the design anticipated, which insured the safety of the individuals travelling the road below the berm: It was noted that the sandstone face paralleling the panel direction experienced spalling, while the face perpendicular to the advancement of the longwall panel did not experience any significant spalling. In this reach of the face, i.e. perpendicular to panel advancement direction, cracking was visible on the outcrop. The raptor protection plan required monitoring of the raptors and their nests located on the Twentymile sandstone outcrop within the subsided area in the Southwest Mining District. Also, the plan required TCC to place fencing over .active nests within this selected outcrop segment. During the first year of mining the fencing kept the raptors from using the historic nests, however in subsequent years one red tailed hawk utilized the nest protected by the fencing. TCC obtained a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct this work. The undermining and APFROVEL) APR 2 4 2000 Permit Renewal No. 3 2.04 -7 l l /l /99