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<br /> <br /> <br /> 63 C1981-041 RN7 findings <br />study area that meet the geomorphic criteria for alluvial valley floors. This land is <br />located adjacent to the Colorado River. The permittee noted, on Exhibit 33 of the <br />application, that a portion of this land is subirrigated and a portion was historically <br />flood irrigated. <br /> <br />The permittee has demonstrated that a large portion of the alluvial valley floor meets <br />the requirement for a "grandfathering" exemption. The Colorado Surface Coal <br />Mining Reclamation Act of 1979 allows an exemption from interrupting, precluding, <br />or discontinuing farming and from effects on the quantity and quality of water <br />supplying the alluvial valley floor, if, in the year preceding August 3, 1977, the surface <br />coal mining operations either produced coal in commercial quantities and were <br />located within or adjacent to an alluvial valley floor, or had obtained permit approval <br />to conduct surface coal mining operations within an alluvial valley floor. <br /> <br />The geographic extent of the exemption is limited to the actual extent of mine <br />workings as of August 3, 1977, and adjacent lands for which there existed (at that <br />time) substantial demonstrable financial or regulatory commitment to mine in the <br />future, as required by Rule 2.06.8(5)(a)(i)(B) in the Regulations of the Colorado <br />Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal Mining. <br /> <br />The permittee provided copies of permits for the Roadside and Cameo Mines, which <br />were obtained in December 1976 and January 1977. Therefore, those lands permitted <br />are eligible for the "grandfather" exemption. These lands include those portions of <br />the permit area within Sections 27, 28, 33 and 34, T10S, R98W. This area includes <br />the entire affected alluvial valley floor, with the exception of that portion in Section <br />26. However, that portion of Section 26 within the permit area as noted in Exhibit 33 <br />was disturbed as part of construction of the unit train loadout prior to August 3, 1977, <br />and therefore is eligible for the "grandfathering" exemption. <br />