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Surface Water Hydroloav <br />3. The only water use downstream of the proposed permit area <br />in Pine Gulch is water from diversion ditches originating <br />at the La Plata River. This water use is in a portion <br />of the W/2, Section 12, T.34 N, R.12 W, at the confluence <br />of Pine Gulch with Hay Gulch, approximately 3 miles <br />southwest of the permit area. Water is used for <br />irrigation by ditch right owners L. Huntington, D. <br />Huntington, and J. Wiltze. Source of information is <br />ditch right owners; Brad Gosche, V.P., National King <br />Coal, Inc.; and site specific reconnaissance of the Pine <br />Gulch drainage from Section 33, T. 35 N, R.11 W, to <br />Section 12, T.34 N, R.12 W., by Fred M. Johnson, C.P.G. <br />and Clifford M. Schmid, L.S. As the Colorado M.L.R.D. <br />has found there is not sufficient alluvial groundwater <br />to enhance productivity of agriculturally useful <br />vegetation along Pine Gulch with the permit area, and <br />Pine Gulch is not a renewable resource, it contributes <br />nothing to agriculture or irrigation within the Hay Gulch <br />AVF at or beyond the confluence with Pine Gulch. <br />4. There will be no impacts downstream on Pine Gulch due to <br />subsidence related depletion of flow. Subsidence could <br />be caused by pillar extraction during retreat, but is not <br />planned. National King Coal, Inc. has submitted a mining <br />plan showing elongated pillars supporting all entries <br />under the pine Gulch drainage system. These pillars will <br />not be extracted on final retreat, thereby providing <br />perpetual stability for the Pine Gulch drainage and <br />preventing potential damage to the hydrologic balance <br />outside the permit area. A topographic map showing the <br />drainage basin of Pine Gulch above those points proposed <br />to be crossed by mine development is attached. The total <br />area of this drainage is approximately 365.5 acres. <br />