Laserfiche WebLink
MOUNTAIN COAL COMPANY <br />WEST ELK MINE <br />2016 <br />U.S. FOREST SERVICE <br />WATER RESOURCES PROJECT <br />INTRODUCTION <br />As part of Mountain Coal Company's West Elk Mine Permit, a requirement to Monitor Reservoirs and <br />Stock Ponds is set forth on page 2.04-70 (See Attachment A). The requirement, with regard to the U.S. <br />Forest Service water resources states: <br />"In addition, the West Elk Mine, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest <br />Service (USFS), Paonia Ranger District in Paonia, Colorado, has <br />agreed to informally monitor the USFS surface water resources (stock <br />ponds), as depicted on Map 37, that are located directly over longwall <br />panels to be mined or within the angle -of -draw per the agreement letter <br />in Exhibit 19C. In addition to the commitments provided in Exhibit 19C, <br />MCC will also photograph on a yearly basis the resources that are <br />located over longwall panels to be mined or within the angle -of -draw. <br />The results of the monitoring will be included in the Annual Hydrology <br />Report. Table 8 lists the USFS water resources within or adjacent to the <br />West Elk Mine permit area. " <br />Each pond has only one number; it was determined to use the "P" number in the Range Resource <br />Improvement Numbers column as delineated in the Infra -Range Data -base. (For example: 803P10 <br />shows the Range Management Unit {RMU), 803, and the pond number, P10. The RMU is not shown in <br />the report since all resources inventoried are in the same RMU). Table 8 (See Attachment B) has been <br />revised to reflect these numbers. <br />To satisfy the permit requirement (See Attachment C), Mountain Coal Company located and <br />photographed these water resources and prepared reports presenting these findings. In an effort to <br />reduce the size of this report in 2014, Mountain Coal Company removed ponds from the report <br />where subsidence had completed or were further than a year out from being undermined (See <br />Attachment C, bullet two). This document is a follow-up to the Mountain Coal Company, West Elk <br />Mine Water Resources Project reports 2005 through 2015. <br />PROJECT AREA <br />The project area is located on lands managed by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, <br />Grand Mesa -Uncompahgre -Gunnison National Forest, and the Paonia Ranger District. It encompasses <br />Sections 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34 and 35 of T. 13 S., R. 90 W. 6' PM. and Sections 3 <br />and 4, T. 14S. R.90W. 61' PM. See Attachment D, Map 37 of the West Elk Mine Permit for locations. <br />