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<br />Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance July 2018 <br />Permit Renewal No. 7 P a g e | 19 <br />Volumes 1, 12, and 15 of the PAP. No threatened or endangered species have been identified in <br />the permit area. No critical habitat for any such species is known to exist within the permit area. <br />Herds of deer and elk are regularly seen grazing on the reclaimed area, most notably during the <br />winter. Rodent and small game populations have reestablished on reclaimed areas and small birds <br />and raptors are numerous on reclaimed and adjacent undisturbed areas. <br /> <br />With the exception of the immediate vicinity of the pump station on the Wilson Reservoir, there <br />is no fish habitat or fish within the areas to be mined or reclaimed. <br />5.0 Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plans <br />5.1 Operations Plan <br /> <br />Mining Activity <br /> <br />Detailed information on the Mine Operations Plan is found in Section 2.05.3 (Volume 1 for the <br />East Pit, West Pit, Section 16 Pit, Facilities Area and Gossard Loadout ; Volume 12 for South <br />Taylor Pit; Volume 15 for Collom Pit) of the PAP. Performance standards associated with mining <br />operations are found in Section 4 (Volume 1 for the East Pit, West Pit, Section 16 Pit, Facilities <br />Area and Gossard Loadout; Volume 12 for South Taylor Pit; Volume 15 for Collom Pit) of the <br />PAP and are summarized in Section B of this document. <br /> <br />The Colowyo Coal Mine is a strip mine and consists of five pits (East Pit, West Pit, Section 16 Pit, <br />South Taylor Pit, and Collom Pit) operating within 27,529 permitted acres. Mining operations <br />have ceased in the East and West Pit and only reclamation of the final cut in the West Pit remains. <br />All of the East Pit has been regraded, topsoiled and reseeded. Current mining operations are in <br />the South Taylor Pit and these operations will continue in the future per the mine plan. Colowyo <br />has begun construction on support facilities associated with the Collom Pit, but no coal extraction <br />has occurred within the Collom Pit. All disturbance activities are limited to the information <br />provided in Exhibit 13C of the PAP. <br /> <br />Mining operations began in 1976 with the Section 11 Pit, a multi-seam coal operation that <br />continued to move in a southerly direction, extending and expanding into what is known as the <br />East Pit. Eight coal seams (Y, X, A, B, C, D, E, F) were mined from the East Pit and ranging in <br />thickness from two to fifteen feet. The East Pit is nearly 6,000 feet from east to west (width), <br />1,000 feet in breadth (highwall to highwall), and 450 feet deep. Due to the number of coal seams, <br />immense size of the pit, and manpower and equipment employed, pit progression was slow, with <br />additional disturbances of approximately 40 to 50 acres per year. The East Pit reached a steady <br />state where acreage disturbed approximately equaled acreage reclaimed in any given year. <br />However, reclamation of the East Pit disturbed areas was modified with the placement of the West <br />Pit development excess spoil. Extraction of coal from the East Pit was terminated in 2006 <br />(Drawing 23 of the PAP). Currently, all reclamation activities have been completed in the East <br />Pit. <br />