Laserfiche WebLink
Facilities Area <br /> The permittee identified approximately 500 acres of land within the reconnaissance <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 /> 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 /> 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 /> 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 /> 61 <br />