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RULE 2 PERMITS <br /> <br />Rule 2 Permits 2.05-29 Revision Date: 8/6/25 <br /> Revision No.: PR-05 <br /> <br />Colowyo maintains several areas for coal storage near the shop facilities and also near the Gossard <br />Loadout. Inactive storage piles have been sloped and compacted to prevent wind erosion and <br />spontaneous combustion. If coal dust becomes troublesome in the active coal storage piles, a <br />mobile water truck with a high pressure pump and nozzle is available for dust suppression. <br />No thermal dryers are used in the coal crushing and handling facilities. <br /> <br />Disturbance <br /> <br />Colowyo, in as much as practical, minimizes the area of land disturbed at any one time. Topsoil is <br />removed only to the extent necessary to accommodate the mining operations. Through the mine <br />plan, the rehandling of both topsoil and overburden is kept to a minimum. Reclamation of disturbed <br />areas will commence as contemporaneously as possible. <br /> <br />As necessary, mobile water truck will be assigned to work in topsoil or overburden removal <br />operations to keep any dusty conditions under control. Planting of special windbreak vegetation in <br />the permit area is not planned. <br /> <br />Blasting <br /> <br />Sequential blasting is utilized as a standard practice to reduce the amount of unconfined particulate <br />matter produced. <br /> <br />Complete blasting information is set forth in Section 2.05.3 and Sections 4.08.1 through 4.08.6. <br /> <br />Fish and Wildlife Plan <br /> <br />Prior to and during the early years of mining, Colowyo implemented wildlife management and <br />range management programs to offset the potential impacts of mining on wildlife and to improve <br />the rangeland in surrounding areas which had deteriorated after years of overgrazing. Other <br />protection measures were also implemented to minimize any possible effects of the increased <br />mining activity. <br /> <br />Also, during the early stages of pre-planning for the mining operation, Colowyo adopted a policy <br />to return the land to a condition capable of supporting the diverse wildlife populations that the area <br />currently supports. The assumption in the late 1970s was that shrub reestablishment would play a <br />key role in wildlife habitat mitigation. These early efforts were unique in that revegetation with <br />shrub species, especially native shrub species, had never been an integral part of pre-mine planning <br />in the West. Virtually no information was available and very little was known about the growth <br />requirements of native species. To reach these early objectives, Colowyo implemented <br />revegetation and wildlife habitat use studies designed to determine the feasibility and techniques <br />of revegetating disturbed areas with native shrub vegetation adapted to northwest Colorado. <br />However, after decades of experience, it has become obvious that reestablishment of shrubs on the <br />reclaimed area is not critical to encourage wildlife use such as by elk. <br /> <br />For example, in recent years it has been observed that elk herds of between 200 and 400 animals