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The access/haul road crossing, which is currently in place, is similar to that which is currently used at the adjacent National King Coal, Inc., operation. Monitoring of the alluvial aquifer below the King Coal Mine haul road crossing indicates that there has not been any adverse affects to the quantity or quality of the alluvial aquifer. Furthermore, Blue Flame has committed to ensuring that there will be no surface runoff from the road to the AVF (see Section VIII of this document). Therefore, the potential for degradation of the alluvial water system due to the access/haul road is minimal. Surface Water The prevailing surface water regime at and near the Blue Flame Coal Mine may be impacted in two ways. 1. Dimunition of water quality due to drainage from the mine facilities area; and, Dimunition of water quality resulting from subsidence. As discussed elsewhere in this document, the only surface disturbance at the Blue Flame site are the surface facilities and associated roads. To protect the hydrologic regime at and near the proposed permit area, the applicant has designed a sediment control system for the disturbed area. Upland diversion ditches will convey water from the undisturbed portions of the permit area around the disturbance and onto the floor of Hay Gulch, as would occur naturally. A second system of ditches will carry water within the disturbed area to a sediment pond on the site, which has been sized to comply with the regulations. This system is dissolved to prevent sediment loaded runoff from the disturbed area mixing with the undisturbed hydrologic regime. -rurthermore, to prevent degradation of the Hay Gulch water quality, the applicant has committed to constructing a berm on either side of the access/haul road which accesses the mine from La Plata County Road 120. These berms will prevent runoff from the road from reachi ng the AYF. The second area of potential impact to the surface water system is the result of subsidence processes (see Section XXII of this document). After mining is completed, the surface above the abandoned workings may exhibit fracturing. These features will induce inflow of naturally occurring surface runoff into the abandoned mine. It is expected that surface water flowing through these fractures, and eventually discharoing to the surface system, would exhibit increased levels of dissolved solids. The Division finds that this impact to the surface system will be minimal because the area potentially affected by subsidence is relatively small, and due to the semi-arid nature of the climate, surface runoff at the mine site is minimal. 7o control the discharge -14-