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CHAPTER 3 - DESCRIPTION OF THE AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT A transportation corridor, an area encompassing the routes of all the trans- portation alternatives (see Drawiny kl), comprises the affected environment. Descriptions of the general environment of the Paonia area may be found in the Environmental Assessment Record of Lease C-25079, prepared by the U,S.D.0.1., BLM in 1977. Some elements of this broader environment sustain a more siynificant impact and so are addressed here in more detail. A. Climate and Air Ouality Climate The yeneral climate will not be affected by any of the transportation alter- natives, For a discussion of the climate of the North Fork area, refer to the U.S,D,O,I Bureau of Land Management's Environmental Assessment Record of Lease C-25079 (1971). Air Quality Based on existing data, the air quality of the Paonia area is considered good, As in most rural areas, the air quality in the North Valley is pris- tine in terms of gaseous pollutants and variable in particulate concentra- tions over time and space (U,S.D,O.I., BLM, 1971). Since preliminary studies of the Orchard Valley Mine were conducted by the Colorado Department of Health, Air Pollution Control Division in Novc~nber, 1976, no further emission studies in the Paonia area have been conducted by • the State (Miller, Colorado Department of Health, Air Pollution Control Division, personal communication, 1984), However, an air quality study of the North Fork Valley and the effects from Colorado Westmoreland Inc, oper- ations in particular, was prepared by Thorne Ecological Institute of Boulder, Colorado for CWI in December, 1977. The 1977 study indicated that the Orchard Valley Mine operations were, at one time, the yreatest contributor to fuyitive dust in the Steven's Gulch airshed. These missions were substantially reduced after the mine site was reveyetated, spray bars and bag houses were installed on the loading and dumping stations, and the haul road from Steven's Gulch Road to Lhe truck loading station was paved. The paving of haul roads reduces fugitive dust from trucking by 85 percent and pollution control devices utilized on ioad- iny and dumpiny stations reduces fugitive dust to a negligible level (Tin- sinic, Colorado Department of Health, Air Pollution Control Division, per- sonal communication, 1984). Traffic particulate missions for the base year 1977 were calculated to be 186,743 grams/day in Ilpper Steven's Gulch and 740,46) grams/day in the adjacent valley (Thorne Ecological Institute, 1977). The study also concluded that CWI operations contributed 4 percent or less to particulate levels in the adjacent North Fork Valley. It should be noted that several gravel and unimproved roads, public and private, out- side of the transportation corridor contribute significant fugitive dust. Emissions data have been obtained from CWI's two high-volume particulate sampliny stations located at the mine site (BLM hi-vol) and in the orchard below the train loadout area (Orchard hi-vol). These stations have been operated intermittently from 1978 to the present time, Appendix "F" con- tains tabulations of the particulate levels recorded at the two sampling sites. 38