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eh <br />ESPEY, HUSTON 8 ASSOCIATES, INC. <br />• <br />two are not interconnected and that the coals aze isolated From the overburden and <br />surface alluvium. Permeabilities of the coal seams and overburden lithologies aze <br />also quite low and when viewed with the absence of drawdowns in adjacent wells <br />being tested, it is most probable that mining would have minimal, if any, affect on <br />the subsurface waters within or surrounding the mine plan azea. Further details are <br />provided in the hydrology report as prepared by WATEC, Inc. and Leonazd Rice and <br />Associates and aze supplied as part of this application (Chapter G). <br />Because of the nature of the undifferentiated sandstones and other low <br />permeability stratigraphic units, none can be considered in the context of regional <br />aquifers. Only the Trout Creek Sandstone Member of the IIes Formation qualifies <br />both lithologically and azeally as such an aquifer. The Trout Creek Sandstone is <br />approximately 75 to 90 feet thick and is composed of predominately medium-grained <br />quaztz feldspathic sandstone, locally intertonguiag with brackish water shales and <br />• siltstones and coals. In most places it is cemented by moderate amounts of calcite, <br />but silt and clay are also a common matrix. No monitoring or observation wells <br />have been drilled into the Trout Creek Sandstone, however, because mining will take <br />place in seams above this unit and the stratigraphic sepazation is so great that no <br />effect on its hydrologic conditions are expected to occur. <br />2.4 ENERGY OR MINERAL RESOURCES <br />2.4.1 Coal <br />Within Northern Coal Company's mine plan azea as included in the area <br />of this application, there aze seven major coal beds in the Williams Fork Formation, <br />i.e., FF, UP, P, J, G, D and C coal seams. Only the first five are planned for mining <br />at this time and aze discussed in this application. Stratigraphically, the latter two <br />underlie the former and mining of the seams above will not hamper or preclude later <br />mining and maximum recovery in the lower beds. Numerous other coal seams <br />ranging from less than 24 inches to 12 feet occur between the intervals of the major <br />seams. <br />F-17 <br />