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<br />achieve greater recovery of the minable reserves currently in the buffer <br />area in lease C-023703. <br />Hining in the lease application area will be by underground methods. The <br />primary mining method to be used will be the longwall method. One <br />room-and-pillar panel is proposed in the northeast corner of the lease <br />application area. <br />\,y~" The existing mine facilities will be used with no new facilities being <br />P `, constructed in the proposed lease area. <br />~~ ~°' <br />~~N~ Up to 15 degasification wells may have to be drilled ahead of the longwall <br />~~ panels to vent methane gas that occurs from coal seams in the area. This <br />oy. ~ is a safety measure to prevent explosions underground. Approximately 1 <br />acre of disturbance will occur with each drill hole for a total_of up to <br />15 acres. In a hole drilled on the existing lease area, a sign ifican~ <br />amount of gas was not released initially. The gas was not released until <br />the longwall panel passed the drill hole location. The gas was only <br />liberated in significant amounts from the rider seams above the D seam <br />when caving began into the area behind the longwall roof support system. <br />Hining within the lease application area would begin in 1988 and end in <br />1995. <br />HitiRation <br />Mitigation that were included as part of the emergency bypass lease <br />application is as follows: <br />WF-U has installed a subsidence monitoring network over the first <br />longwall panel to be mined under Red Wash. The results of that <br />\ monitoring effort will be known 2 years prior to driving any longwall <br />\v panels within the lease application area. Should adjustments need to <br />be made to the mine plan to mitigate impacts to Red Wash, these same <br />adjustments will be applied to the proposed amendment within the <br />lease application area. <br />Western-Fuels Utah Inc, will comply with all applicable laws and <br />regulations. <br />B. No Action <br />Under the no action alternative the area applied for would not be leased <br />and mined at this time. The area would remain part of the Prairie Dog <br />Lease Tract and would be offered for lease, as part of that tract. The <br />existing Deserado Hine would bypass this area. Approximately 2.1 million <br />tons of recoverable coal would be lost to further production. <br />III. AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT <br />Introduction <br />The elevation of the lease application area ranges between 5,400 and 5,600 <br />feet. Gently rolling to moderately sloping Land forms cover a majority of <br />the lease application area. Slopes range in steepness from 0 to 6 percent <br /> <br />5 <br />