Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 5 <br />receiving discharge from the permit and adjacent areas. The majority of flows in the White <br />River occur between May and July in response to snowmelt. <br /> <br />Soils in the area include the Cushman, Forelle, Pinelli, Potts, Satanka and Worfka series, which <br />are developed on ridge tops, ridge sideslopes, and in valley fans. Underdeveloped soils such as <br />Colorado, Haverson alkali phase, Kinnear, Moyerson, Redcreek, Rentsac, and Turley variant <br />occur on low floodplains, extreme ridge tops, and upper ridge sideslopes. <br /> <br />Eight plant communities have been identified in the permit area to be affected by surface <br />operations and facilities. Vegetation communities consist of juniper woodland, juniper <br />woodland-big sagebrush, big sagebrush, big sagebrush-wheatgrass, western wheatgrass, <br />Colorado wildrye, cheatgrass-annual forb, and big sagebrush-greasewood. These communities <br />comprise a mosaic controlled by soil type, topography, and past and present land uses. Historic <br />grazing practices may have contributed to the extent of the cheatgrass-annual forb vegetation <br />type throughout the permit area. The permit area is currently used as winter/spring range for <br />domestic sheep. <br /> <br />Wildlife species found within the permit area include mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), <br />pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), and greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). <br />Numerous raptor species have been identified in the area. Species include the ferruginous hawk <br />(Buteo regalis), turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), marsh hawk (Circus cyaneus), American kestrel <br />(Falco sparverius), sharp-shinned hawk (Accipter striatus), burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), <br />red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensus), and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Bald eagles <br />(Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) are known to migrate <br />through the area. Large white-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys leucurus) towns exist in the area of <br />the refuse disposal sites. <br /> <br />Description of the Operation and Reclamation Plans <br /> <br />The Deserado Mine is an underground operation utilizing both continuous miners and longwall <br />mining equipment to extract the "D" (upper) and "B" (lower) coal seams. Mining operations <br />conducted during previous permit terms have extracted the B and D seams. D seam mining was <br />completed in 1999. B seam mining commenced in 1999 and will continue during the current <br />permit term. <br /> <br />Raw coal is transported out of the mine by conveyor to the D/B-Portal Area wash plant where <br />the coal is crushed and cleaned. The coal is then transported 3.1 miles to the rail loadout facility <br />via an over-land conveyor system. The coal is conveyed to the slot storage building, which can <br />store up to 25,000 tons of coal. From this building, coal is conveyed 1800 feet to the loadout <br />area. Clean coal is then transported by electric rail to the Bonanza Power Plant in Vernal, Utah. <br /> <br />The rail loop and facilities within the rail loop were removed from the permit and the <br />reclamation plan with the approval of Permit Revision 04. The loadout tower is in the permit <br />and reclamation plan, as are all of the structures that convey the coal to that point. Blue <br />Mountain Energy will keep all operations related to the mining operations and the loading and <br />transport of coal separate. The decision to remove the rail loop and associated facilities was