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Mato and Assoclafes, LC <br />• 1.0 INTRODUCTION <br />Mountain Coal Company, LLC has historically carried out an extensive hydrologic <br />monitoring plan. The purpose of this monitoring is to enable an ongoing evaluation of the <br />potential impacts of mining activities to surface and groundwaters in the vicinity of the West <br />Elk Mine. The current hydrologic monitoring plan includes the routine monitoring of 82 <br />sites. Of these, l9 are surface water sites, 27 are wells and 39 are springs. The number and <br />locations of monitoring sites in the program has varied through the years. <br />The purpose of this evaluation is to review West Elk Mine's groundwater monitoring plan <br />and to make recommendations regarding changes to the plan. This review is based on an <br />analysis of historical water level, discharge rate, and solute data collected from the wells and <br />• springs in the current monitoring plan. The review of the historical monitoring data has been <br />conducted in light of the findings of a recent hydrogeologic characterization of the West Elk <br />Mine area (Mayo and Associates, L.C. 1999). This review does not include an analysis of <br />surface water monitoring locations, except for the consideration of water quality analyses. <br />The recommended changes include: 1) the elimination of seven wells, 19 springs, and two <br />surface water sites, 2) a reduction in the number of parameters for laboratory analyses for <br />wells, 3) a reduction in the number of parameters for laboratory analyses for springs which <br />have 5 years of laboratory water quality data, and 4) a reduction in the number of parameters <br />for laboratory analyses for surface water sites. The recommended monitoring plan retains 16 <br />wells and 19 springs and adds one new spring. Although one new spring is proposed for <br />Evaluation of the West Elk Mine Monitoring Plan <br />29 January 1999 <br />Page 1 <br />