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Three Geotechnical Drill Holes at Deer Creek Shaft Project Plan <br />Minor Revision 338 <br />Page 3 of 9 <br />Mesa Verde, rocks of the Wasatch Formation are exposed. The Upper and Lower Coal <br />Members of the Mesa Verde Formation aze the major coal-bearing units in the area. The <br />A (King), B (Somerset), and C (Bear) coal beds of the Lower Coal Member and the D <br />(Oliver), E (Hawks Nest), and the F-Seam coal beds of the Upper Coal Member have all <br />been mined within the North Fork Valley. <br />General dip in area of the geotechnical drilling is 3 to 4 degrees to the northeast. <br />Stratigraphic displacements and faults are known to occur in West Elk Mine. Known <br />geologic data does not indicate that these faults are locatable on the surface. <br />WATER RESOURCES <br />The town of Paonia is situated about 10 miles west of the azea and receives an average of <br />approximately 15 inches of precipitation annually. Given that precipitation increases as <br />elevation increases, the annual precipitation at the proposed well sites would be expected <br />to be somewhat higher than that received at Paonia. An estimated 75% of the annual <br />precipitation occurs during late winter and eazly spring, mostly as snowfall. June, July, <br />and August aze often the driest months. <br />Drainage from the shaft pad for the proposed drill holes would primarily enter an <br />unnamed tributary of Dry Fork of Minnesota Creek which is tributary to the North Fork <br />of the Gunnison River. A mudpit to control drilling fluids will be constructed in the <br />current disturbed azea. The mudpit will be designed to control fluids from three drill <br />holes and contain the 10-year, 24-hour precipitation event. Water from drilling <br />operations will be recirculated through the mudpit. Make-up water will be from Dry Fork <br />Minnesota Creek, or Bitter Springs or from West Elk Mine non-tributary water rights via <br />water pipeline in Sylvester Gulch. No riparian, wetland or stream habitat will be affected <br />by these drilling activities. <br />The alternate sediment controls used for this drill pad consist of erosion control blankets <br />and straw wattles placed on the outslopes of the road and straw bales placed in the ditches <br />for sediment traps. The area is within an existing Small Area Exemption described in <br />previously submitted documents. <br />VEGETATION <br />Vegetation communities in the project area include: Mountain shrub (dominated by <br />Gambel oak), Aspen, Gambel oak, Spruce-Fir, Douglas fir and Grass/forbs. Vegetation <br />and reclamation at previous MDW sites is described in a document titled, "Mountain <br />Coal Company, West Elk Mine 2004 Reclamation Photograph Project", and Mountain <br />Coal Company's, "Annual Reclamation Report, November 1, 2004", completed by <br />Michael Wazd Outdoors. Additional vegetation information is contained in the attached <br />report entitled, "Box Canyon West Methane Drainage Wells, Wildlife Habitat <br />