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<br />Andrew P. Schissler <br />-2- <br />by the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board on P1ar <br />graphic extent of the exempted operation must be de <br />standards described above for the Eagle No. 5 mine. <br />Eagle No. 9 mine, the Division has identified mine <br />Colorado Division of Mines prior to August 3, 1977, <br />for defining the geographic extent of the exempted <br /> <br />January 21~, 1981 <br />ch 24, 1977. Th'e geb- <br />fined according Ito the <br />. In the case of~ the <br />maps submitted to the <br />which meet the criteria <br />operations. <br />Surface coal mining operations identified as the Eagle No. 6 mine, Eagle No. 7 <br />mine, and Eagle No. 8 mine, do not appear eligible for the exemption allowed <br />under Section 114(2)(e)(II). Information is not available in the submission, <br />from the Colorado Division of Mines, from the United States Geological Survey, <br />from the Mining Safety and Health Administration, nor from the files of the <br />Mined Land Reclamation Division to demonstrate that the Eagle No. 6 mine, <br />Eagle No. 7 mine, or Eagle No. 8 mine meets the coal production or permit <br />approval criteria required by Section 114(2)(e)(II). <br />2. As stated in C.R.S. 1973, 34-33-114(2)(e)(II), surface coal mining opera- <br />tions meeting the coal production or permit approval criteria are exempted <br />from the requirement of Section 114(2)(e.)-(-L~. In essence, an exemption <br />allows permit approv~and therefore acEess to the coal resource without <br />requiring the applica t to affirmatively demonstrate or requiring the Division <br />to make a written determination that~the proposed surface coal mining operations <br />would not interrupt, discontinue or preclude farming on alluvial valley floors <br />that are irrigated or naturally sub~irrigated, or, that the operations would <br />not materially damage the quantity/or quality of surface water or ground water <br />systems that supply the alluvial valley floor. <br />Since an exemption is only effA.ative for the requirements of Section 114(2)(e) <br />(I), exempted surface coal minir{~ operations must meet the remaining require- <br />ments of the Act regarding the~pr@@tection of alluvial valley floors, i.e. be <br />designed to prevent material ~amag~~to the hydrologic balance outside the <br />permit area (114(2)(c)) and preserve throughout the mining and reclamation <br />process the essential hydrologic func~~ions of alluvial valley floors (120(2) <br />(j)(vi)). To demonstrate compliance, or the exempted Eagle No. 5 and Eagle ~ - <br />No. 9 mines, Empire Energy must identify all alluvial valley floors in or <br />adjacent to the permit area, identify the essential hydrologic functions of <br />these alluvial valley floors, and demonstr~ to how the essential hydrologic <br />functions would be pre~erved throughout the mining and reclamation process. <br />Rule 2.06.8(3) and 2.6.8(4) of the "Regulations of the Colorado Mined Land <br />Reclamation Board fob Coal Mining" describe these requirements.: In addition, <br />the Office of Surface Mining's June 11, 1980,~draft technical guidance document, <br />"Alluvial Valley Floor Guidelines", contains a narrative discussion of these <br />requirements and ,methodologies for compliance. Baseline information collected <br />by Empire, described in Section 4.3.5 of the existing permit, File No. 79-190, <br />approved on March 27, 1980 by the Mined Land Reclamation Board, should provide <br />some of the data necessary to demonstrate compliance with the referenced re- <br />quirements of the Act. Additional information referenced by various Division <br />memos, dating from February 7, 1980, discussing the alluvial valley floor issue <br />as it relates to Empire Energy's situation, should also supplement the data <br />necessary to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the Act. <br />In order for Empire Energy to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of I <br />the Act protecting alluvial valley floors for the non-exempted Eagle No. 6 '• <br />mine, Eagle No. 7 mine, and Eagle No. 8 mine, a permit application must <br />,. <br /> <br /> <br />