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2 • 26 <br />2.2 SURFACE FACILITIES <br />Initial earthwork involved the construction and improvement of an access road to the coal <br />outcrop (3.1 acres) and the excavation of a bench for support activities relative to the exploration <br />operation. The bench was excavated to only the size necessary for its purpose (2.9 acres). The <br />access road was provided along the hillside and adjacent to an ephemeral drainage to a <br />minimum width necessary to facilitate the desired road width (approximately 30 feet) including a <br />diversion ditch, a portion of the road with a MSHA required berm, and sedimentation traps. <br />Some fill was provided where possible to minimize the width of the cut and the gradient of the <br />access road. All excavation was conducted in a manner necessary to create the most moderate <br />slope possible. An additional area of disturbance consisting of 1.7 acres in the vicinity of the <br />canyon mouth was used after the initial permit approval for construction of a sedimentation pond <br />and topsoil stockpile, as shown in Fgure 2.2.1. <br />The earthwork on the access road was carried out almost exclusively by bulldozer and <br />grader; however, a loader and trucks were used to remove excess material from the steeper <br />slopes and bench area to the improved roadbed on the canyon floor. <br />All earth and rock removed in the construction of the bench area and upper reaches of the <br />access road were retained in the area for purposes of providing adequate work area at the <br />face•up and an MSHA required berm along the steeper portion of the road. All excess materials <br />as noted above were removed from the area for improvement of an existing road from State <br />Highway 139 into McClave Canyon (see Figure 2.2-1). Placement of material on out slopes, for <br />reasons explained above, does not constitute a significant aerial disturbance, was not done in a <br />manner that would affect stability, and does not pose a potential harm to the hydrologic balance <br />of the area. <br />Mc Volume 1 4-29-96 <br />