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r1 r/~ 1 <br />~~~~a~°~ <br />-9- <br />The geographic extent of the exemption is limited to the actual extent of the <br />mine workings on August 3, 1977, and adjacent lands for which there existed <br />demonstrable financial or regulatory commitment to mine in the future. Mine <br />maps on file with the Colorado Division of Mines determine the geographical <br />extent of the area exempted for the Eagle No. 5 Mine. The geographical extent <br />of the area exempted for the Eagle No. 9 Mine was determined from the No. 9 <br />Mine Projection Map dated August, 1976 (Exhibit M of the November, 1980 <br />Alluvial Valley Floor Exemption request). The mining operations proposed for <br />the Eagle No. 5 and No. 9 Mines during this permit term all fall within the <br />exempted area. <br />Surface coal mining operations conducted within the geographic extent of the <br />area eligible for the exemption are not required to comply with the <br />requirements of Rule 2.06.8(5)(a)(1) and (ii). Operations eligible for the <br />exemption, however, are required to restore the essential hydrologic functions <br />of affected alluvial valley floors as a part of the reclamation plan. <br />Williams Fork Alluvial Valley Floor <br />The approximate boundary of the Williams Fork alluvial valley floor is shown <br />on Map IV-8 of the permit application. Presently, a local farmer hays the <br />fields to both the north and south of the Eagle No. 5 Mine surface <br />facilities. The fields are flood irrigated, with water from the Worthington <br />Ditch, by the farmer and Empire Energy Corporation. The essential hydrologic <br />function of this alluvial valley floor is the capacity for flood irrigation. <br />Subirrigation may also occur, but it is considered secondary. <br />Those portions of the Williams Fork alluvial valley floor that will be <br />undermined have already been undermined by past mining activities at the Eagle <br />No. 5 Mine. No additional mining is proposed beneath the Williams Fork <br />alluvial valley floor. Currently, most of the surface disturbances associated <br />with the Eagle No. 5 Mine (face-up area, coal load-out, sediment control, <br />etc.) are located on the Williams Fork alluvial valley floor. <br />The essential hydrologic function, flood irrigation, will be reestablished <br />upon completion of the reclamation activities. The surface facilities will be <br />removed, topsoil replaced, and the site seeded with the rangeland or the <br />pastureland mixture, where applicable. The pasturelands will then be ready to <br />be flood irrigated. The rangeland and marshy areas will not be flood <br />irrigated. <br />The proposed reclamation plan would restore the essential hydrologic functions <br />of the Williams Fork alluvial valley floor. Therefore, the requirements for <br />Rule 2.07.6 (2)(k) have been satisfied for the Eagle No. 5 Mine. <br />Yampa River Alluvial Valley Floors <br />The Eagle No. 5 and No.9 Mines will be mining in areas beneath or <br />hydrologically adjacent to two alluvial valley floors (AVF's) along the Yampa <br />River, the Big Bottom and the Round Bottom alluvial valley floors. Each of <br />these alluvial valley floors are discussed separately, along with the <br />potential impacts of mining. <br />