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Except for the immediate vicinity of the pump station on the Wilson Reservoir, there is no fish <br />habitat or fish within the azeas to be mined or reclaimed. <br />3.3 Description of the Operations and Reclamation Plans <br />3.3.1 Operations Plan <br />Detailed information on the Colowyo Operations Plan is found in Section 2.05.3 (Volume 1 for the <br />East Pit, West Pit, Section 16 Pit, Facilities Area and Gossard Loadout and Volume 12 for South <br />Taylor) of the PAP. Performance standards associated with mining operations are found in Section 4 <br />(Volume 1 for the East Pit, West Pit, Section 16 Pit, Facilities Area and Gossazd Loadout and <br />Volume 12 for South Taylor) of the Permit and aze summarized in Section B of this document. The <br />Colowyo Coal Mine is a strip mine. As proposed, the mine consists of four pits (East Pit, West Pit, <br />Section 16 Pit and South Taylor Pit) operating within 13,581.15 permitted acres. A fifth pit, the <br />Section 11 pit, was joined with the East Pit. The Section 1 l pit has been backfilled, topsoiled and <br />seeded. Mining operations have ceased in the East Pit and only reclamation of the final cut remains. <br />The majority of the East Pit has been regraded, topsoiled and reseeded. Current mining operations <br />aze in the West Pit and future operations will include the Section 16 Pit and the South Taylor Pit. <br />Mining operations began in 1976 with the East Pit, amulti-seam coal operation that continued to <br />move in a southerly direction Eight coal seams (Y, X, A, B, C, D, E, F) were mined from the East <br />Pit, ranging in thickness from two to fifteen feet. The East Pit is nearly 6,000 feet from east to west <br />(width), and 1,000 feet in breadth (highwall to highwall), and 450 feet deep. Due to the number of <br />coal seams, immense size of the pit, and manpower and equipment employed, pit progression was <br />slow, with additional disturbances of approximately 40 to 50 acres per year. The East Pit reached a <br />steady state where acreage disturbed approximately equals acreage reclaimed in any given yeaz. <br />However, reclamation of the East Pit disturbed areas was modified with the placement of West Pit <br />development excess spoil. Extraction of coal from the East Pit was terminated in 2006 (Drawing 23, <br />31 August 2005). Currently the only ongoing operation in the East Pit is reclamation of the final cut, <br />including backfilling and grading of the pit and highwall reduction. <br />The still expanding, large, multi-seam West Pit is located to the west ofthe East Pit. The method of <br />operation utilized in, and the coal seams extracted from, the West Pit are the same as those of the <br />East Pit. The West Pit will approach the East Pit in size. Mining in the West Pit is advancing from <br />north to south, pazalleling the movement of the adjacent East Pit. Projected life of the West Pit is <br />estimated to be year 2010 (Drawing 23, 31 August 2005). In 2005 the West Pit reached asteady- <br />state operation and Colowyo began backfilling and grading operations on the north and mid-pit areas. <br />The Section 16 Pit is located south of the East and West Pits. The northern boundary of the Section <br />16 Pit will eventually be merged with these two south-trending pits. Mining of the Section 16 Pit is <br />of the "X" coal seam only. Mining was from east to west, but was reoriented from north to south for <br />the final strip in the azea. Mining ceased in the Section 16 Pit in 2002, however, Colowyo has <br />submitted an as yet unapproved Technical Revision (TR-65) to extend the Section 16 Pit to the <br />Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance 4 May 2007 <br />Permit Revision 02 Page 22 <br />