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Methane Drainage Wells Project Plan <br />Technical Revision 103; MDWs 20-04, 20-05, 21-05, 21-06 <br />Page 8 of 12 <br />Roads utilized in the project will be maintained with water bazs and appropriate sedimentation <br />controls as required during the drilling phase. A D9 bulldozer or its equivalent will be used to <br />prepaze the road for travel and assist in mobilizing the. drill equipment to the drill sites. <br />Additional equipment expected to be used in opening, maintaining, and reclamation may include <br />a rubber-tired backhoe, rubber tired grader, roller compactor and atrack-mounted excavator. <br />Brush removal may occur at the proposed drill sites however, if trees aze encountered, MCC will <br />remove the trees. Drill site pads of approximately 0.25-acre will be constructed to accommodate <br />the drill equipment and drill cuttings sump or mud pits. Drill pads will be constructed only as <br />large as necessary. <br />Topsoil will be stripped, stockpiled, and identified with a sign. Stored topsoil will be placed in a <br />sepazate pile; the pile will be located outside of drainages and placed in an azea where it will be <br />protected from wind erosion; signs identifying the pile as "Topsoil" will be placed so as to <br />prevent unintended contamination, compaction or use for other than reclamation purposes; <br />alternate sediment controls (slash, silt fence or straw wattles) will be used; and the pile will be <br />seeded in the first seeding season following its construction using a seed mix that will stabilize <br />erosion. This topsoil will be used in the reclamation phase of the program. <br />Mud pits to accommodate drill cuttings will be constructed with an approximate size of 10' x 20' <br />x 6'. These mud pits will be cut into the fill azea of the pad if possible. If a mud pit cannot be <br />accommodated because of shallow soils due to sandstone outcrops, then a pipeline will be <br />constructed and the cuttings pumped to another proposed drill site's mud pit. <br />Water for the drilling operations will be pumped to the drill sites from the North Fork of the <br />Gunnison River using high-pressure hose. Alternatively, water may be transported to the drill <br />sites with mobile water carriers. Mountain Coal Company, L.L.C. owns water rights for these <br />water resources. MCC may place portable stock tanks neaz the drill sites and maintain a <br />minimum water level in the tanks to insure water is available for stock and wildlife. This will <br />reduce the risk of stock and wildlife approaching the mud pits for water. <br />DRILLING ACTIVITIES <br />Drilling activities for the proposed methane drainage wells will include mobilizing drill <br />equipment to the sites and drilling and setting approximately 40 feet of 16-inch surface casing <br />into bedrock. The holes will be rotary drilled with a 12 '/<-inch diameter hole to within 250 feet <br />of the B-Seam, then cased with 9 5/8 inch ID steel casing. Then an 8 '/<-inch diameter hole will <br />be drilled to within 120-150 feet of the B-Seam in the "relaxed zone". The 8 '/<-inch diameter <br />drill hole may be cased with a 7 5/8-inch slotted casing, depending on the integrity of the hole. <br />Designs specific to MDW 20-04 and 20-05; and 21-OS and 21-06 aze attached. <br />DE-GAS INSTALLATION <br />Passive de-gassing of the longwall panels would be accomplished by extending anon- metal <br />stack to the surface casing, attaching a lightning azrestor to it and venting to the ambient <br />atmosphere. Active de-gassing would require a trailer or skid mounted gas exhauster, flame <br />arrestor, valves, and non-metal stack with lightning arrestor that would exhaust the gases to the <br />