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The Bowie No. 2 Mine is a coal mine, and coal has been extracted using the room and pillar <br />mining method. Retreat mining of some of these sections has occurred. Approval of Permit <br />Revision No. 3 allowed the mining method to change to longwall mining. Mining is being <br />conducted only in the D-2 coal seam. Mining in the B-2 coal seam has not been approved. The <br />D-2 coal seam has been accessed from three (3) entries which were constructed at an elevation of <br />6880 feet above sea level. This is the elevation where the D-2 coal seam generally outcrops, <br />within the Bowie No. 2 permit area, and this elevation is approximately 800 feet above the old <br />State Highway 133. The main entries have been driven down-dip to the north, with the <br />sub-mains being driven east and west from the mains. <br />Currently, total annual coal production has been capped at about 5 million tons per yeaz. <br />Approval of Perrrut Revision No. 6 would increase that limit to 6 million tons per yeaz. <br />The mine facilities have been constructed neaz the old Bowie townsite. Construction has <br />occurred to develop haul and access roads, a conveyor belt system, mine and facility benches, <br />vent shafts, a truck loadout facility, a refuse pile, and various drainage and sediment control <br />facilities. Approval of Permit Revision No. 3 added a downhill conveyor, coal stockpile and coal <br />haul truck loading system to the facilities. In addition, the mine site entrance was relocated to the <br />east of the original entrance. Coal is currently being exported from the truck loadout facility onto <br />old State Highway 133 and, then, to the Bowie No. 1 Mine train loadout. Approval of Permit <br />Revision No. 6 would allow the construction of a unit train loadout at the Bowie No. 2 Mine. <br />A drainage and sediment control system has been constructed. The system consists of ditches, <br />culverts, sedimentation ponds and alternate sediment control azeas referred to as "small area <br />exemptions". Specific details regarding the designs for these systems aze presented in Section <br />2.05, as aze references to other sections of the permit application document which present <br />additional design details. <br />For the currently approved operations, all available topsoil has been salvaged and stored prior to <br />facility construction. Approval of Permit Revision No. 6 would permit a vaziance from salvaging <br />all of the topsoil at the train loadout coverfill stockpile. BRL will salvage the top two to three <br />inches of topsoil and then will place geotextile fabric on the coverfill area. Soil from the cut <br />operations for tfie train loadout will, then, be placed on top of this geotextile material. Salvaged <br />topsoil from the facilities azeas was placed in a topsoil storage pile which has a capacity of <br />approximately 270,000 cubic yards. Topsoil which was salvaged prior to the refuse pile <br />construction was stored in another pile which has an approximate storage capacity of 3,111 cubic <br />yards. Specific details regarding the topsoil salvage volumes are presented on Page 2.05-34 of <br />the Bowie No. 2 Mine permit application. <br />Some surface blasting occurred during construction of the facilities. Details regazding the <br />blasting plan are presented within Section 2.05 of the permit application. <br />The Bowie No. 2 Mine is located in azeas known to be subject to mass movement processes. <br />Extensive design efforts and regulatory review were implemented prior to the approval of the <br />Bowie No. 2 Mine and during the review of Pernut Revision No. 3. The details regazding the <br />17 <br />