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There are two separate areas where alluvial valley floors must be <br /> assessed: <br /> 1 . The surface facilities area and adjacent area at the Roadside <br /> and Cameo Mines ; and <br /> 2 . The Cottonwood/Rapid Creek drainages and adjacent areas which <br /> will be undermined by the Roadside mine. <br /> These will be discussed separately in this section. <br /> See Appendices PP, QQ and Exhibit 33 for further information. <br /> Facilities Area <br /> The permittee identified approximately 500 acres of land within the <br /> reconnaissance study area that meet the geomorphic criteria for <br /> alluvial valley floors . This land is located adjacent to the Colorado <br /> River . The permittee noted , on Exhibit 33 of the application, that a <br /> portion of this land is subirrigated and a portion was historically <br /> flood irrigated. <br /> It is the permittee' s contention that a large portion of the alluvial <br /> valley floor meets the requirement for a "grandfathering" exemption. <br /> The Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act of 1979 allows an <br /> exemption from interrupting, precluding, or discontinuing farming and <br /> from effects on the quantity and quality of water supplying the <br /> alluvial valley floor, if, in the year preceding August 3, 1977 , the <br /> surface coal mining operations either produced coal in commercial <br /> quantities and were located within or adjacent to an alluvial valley <br /> floor , or had obtained permit approval to conduct surface coal mining <br /> operations within an alluvial valley floor. <br /> The geographic extent of the exemption is limited to the actual extent <br /> of mine workings as of August 3, 1977 , and adjacent lands for which <br /> there existed (at that time) substantial demonstrable financial or <br /> regulatory commitment to mine in the future, as required by <br /> Rule 2 .06.8(5)(a)( i )(B) in the Regulations of the Colorado Mined Land <br /> Reclamation Board for Coal Mining. <br /> The permittee provided copies of permits for the Roadside and Cameo <br /> Mines which were obtained in December 1976 and January 1977. <br /> Therefore, those lands permitted are eligible for the "grandfather" <br /> exemption. These lands include those portions of the permit area <br /> within Sections 27 , 28, 33 and 34, TIOS, R98W. This area includes the <br /> entire affected alluvial valley floor , with the exception of that <br /> portion in Section 26. However, that portion of Section 26 within the <br /> permit area as noted in Exhibit 33 was disturbed as part of <br /> construction of the unit train loadout in 1977 and therefore is <br /> eligible for the "grandfathering" exemption . <br /> Alluvial Valley Floor - Findings <br /> Those portions of the permit area within Sections 26, 27 , 28, 33 and 34 <br /> are exempt from the requirements that prevent an operation from <br /> -40- <br />