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SECTION 2.05.4(2l(dl TOPSOIL (AEDISTRIBU110M Introduction Western Fuels-Colorado's New Horizon 1 & 2 Mine is tha old Peabody Coal Company's Nucla and Nucla East Mine which operated under the same permit. Peabody performed detailed soils and overburden studies at the New Horizon 1 & 2 mine areas (formerly called the Nucla and Nucla East mine areas respectively). Rather than duplicate large quantities of soils and overburden data, WFC refers the reader to the original Peabody permit application: Volumes 7 and 14. When a reference is made to a data sources in the Peabody documents, the word "Peabody" will immediately precede the reference. This section outlines WFC's plan far removal, storage and redistribution of topsoil, subsoils and other material, to meet the requirement of Section 4.06. The plan addresses those reclamation activities that are conducted during and immediately after backfilling and grading (Section 2.05.4(2)(c]], but prior to revegetation (Section 2.05.4[2)(e)]. The objectives of the plan are to reconstruct plant growth and aquifer mediums that are capable of supporting the postmining land uses. The plan objectives are achieved by insuring that a sufficient thickness of suitable spoil is replaced in the pit bottom and a minimum of four feet of suitable plant growth material, including topsoil, exists on the surface of graded lands prior to the commencement of revegetation activities. The plan presents an account of the plant growth material and aqu'rfer medium requirements based upon current and projected disturbance acreage and plant growth material and aquifer medium availability based on topsoil depth mapping and overburden assessments. The plan also describes the procedural aspects of removal, storage, redistribution, and testing of topsoil materials. New Horizon 2 Overburden and Interburden Charecteristics Overburden and Interburden characteristics for New Horizon 2 are presented in Section 2.04.6, Geology Description. Overburden and Interburden suitability and lithologic units for New Horizon 2 described in Section 2.04.6 are very similar to the shallow overburden units at the New Horizon 1 Mine area. The only signrficant difference between mine areas is the mean thickness of Unit 1 which averages 5 feet at New Horizon 1 Mine compared to about 30 feet within the New Horizon 2 permit area. Approximately 83 percent of the overburden and Interburden material at New Horizon 2, consisting predominantly of Units 1 and 3, is classified as suitable for root growth and aqufer medium material (Section 2.04.6]. Unsuitable material was identrfied in the lower overburden and Interburden (Units 2 and 4] within the proposed disturbance area (Peabody, Appendix 6-5].