HYDRO29908 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

disturb any additional surface acreage in this permit term except for the effects of subsidence. With the approval of PR-02, 1,792 acres will be added • to the permit area. <See Map 5-006 in the permit document for the ]ocation of the Sanborn Creek East Tract.) The surface lands within the permit area include lands owned by Somerset Mining Company and federally owned lands (USES and BLM). The coal reserve owners include Somerset Mining Company, other private entities and federal agencies. Surface facilities are located in the Elk Creek, Bear Creek, Hubbard Creek and Sanborn Creek drainages on the north side of the North Fork (Figure 1>. Mining areas include workings under the Hubbard, Elk, Bear Creek and Coal Gulch drainages. Proposed workings of the Sanborn Creek East Tract will undermine A, B, C and Hoopla Gulches, Bardine Canyon, Hawk's Nest Creek and an unnamed tributary of Thompson Creek. Hubbard Creek is a perennial tributary of the North Fork and provides both domestic and agricultural supplies of water. Bear Creek, Elk Creek and Sanborn Creek are intermittent streams. Coal Gulch, the unnamed drainage, A, 6 and C Gulches, Hawk's Nest Creek, Hoopla Gulch, Bardine Canyon and Thompson Creek are a]] ephemeral drainages that flow to the North Fork. The North Fork is a highly developed water supply which provides agricultural water to the fruit-growing region of the North Fork Valley. The North Fork enters the main stem of the Gunnison River approximately 30 miles southwest of the Somerset Mine. The drainage basin of the North Fork is mountainous, bounded to the west by the Raggeds, the Ruby Range, to the east by the Huntsman Ridge, to the South by the West Elk Mountains, and to the North by • Grand Mesa. Elevations in the basin range from 13,058 feet atop Mt. Owen in the Ruby Range, to 5,100 feet at the confluence of the North Fork with the Gunnison River. The town of Somerset, Colorado, immediately adjacent to the Somerset Mine site, is at an elevation of 6,045 feet. Ground reconnaissance during 1978, 1979 and 1980 identified Elk No. 1 Spring as the one location with ground water surfacing within the original Somerset permit area, with a flow rate of less than one gallon per minute. It is concluded that there is no large ground water reservoir in the area. Western Slope Carbon identified and monitored 11 springs within or adjacent to the Sanborn East Tract. Monitoring records are available from 1983 through 1987. Somerset Mining Company resumed monitoring these springs in July 1992. Springs 1 through 6 are located along the north boundary of the new Sanborn East Tract in the northern portion of Section 2. Springs 7 through 11 are located along the southern boundary of the new tract. The locations of the springs are shown on drawing E8-3286. The topography of the region is characterized by steep canyons cut by the North Fork and its tributaries, with several remnant alluvial terraces above the valley of the North Fork. Proceeding downstream below Somerset, Colorado, the canyon widens. At Paonia, Colorado, the canyon has given way to a broad alluvial plain with interspersed remnant alluvial terraces. The coal to be mined is located in the Somerset Coal Field. The strata exposed in the Somerset Coal Field consist of the Mancos Shale and the coal-bearing Mesaverde • Formation of Upper Cretaceous Age, and of the Ohio Creek Conglomerate, the -4-