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-25- <br />As can be seen from the analysis presented here, the combined hydrologic <br />impacts of the three North Park mines to surface water will be <br />negligible, under a worst case scenario. <br />Effect on Ground Water <br />Both the Wyoming Fuel and Kerr mines are located on the flanks of the tcCallum <br />Anticline and the Johnny Moore Syncline, and thus, are hydrogeologically <br />adjacent. The Bourg Strip t4ine is hydrogeologically separated from the Johnny <br />Moore Syncline by the Ballinger.Anticline. Ground water flow through the rock <br />strata from the Kerr and Wyoming Fuel mines will be to the southeast down the <br />plunge of the McCallum anticlinal axis. Ground water flow through the rock <br />strata from the Bourg Mine will be to the northwest down the plunge of the <br />Bourg synclinal axis. <br />Upper terrace alluvial deposits have been eroded away in the Bourg <br />life-of-mine area and thus, the operation will not cumulatively impact the <br />quantity and quality of ground water in this aquifer. <br />The Kerr Coal mine and the Wyoming Fuel mine will affect the quality and <br />quantity of water within the Sudduth coal, underburden and overdurden. The <br />quantity of water will be affected by mining out the outcrop-recharge areas of <br />these strata and by the decreased infiltration rates of the reclaimed surfaces <br />compared with the natural surfaces. The quality of ground water will be <br />degraded by the exposure of ground water to fractured and fragmented spoil <br />material. The decreased quantity of ground water and the degradation of <br />ground water will not affect the beneficial use of ground water on- and <br />off-site, since no wells are completed in affected strata. <br />Surface runoff will be slightly increased due to the lower infiltration rates <br />over reclaimed surfaces. There is only one spring issuing from the strata <br />affected by mining (i.e., the Sudduth seam), and this is located at the <br />northernmost extent of the Kerr mine. The flow from this seep is <br />insignificant in relation to the surface water flow in Sudduth Draw. <br />The spoil aquifer which forms in the reclaimed mine pits will have recharge <br />and discharge characteristics similar to those of the undisturbed strata. <br />Since no significant springs are issuing from the strata to be mined through, <br />and since the elevation of the pit bottoms will be below the level of streams, <br />the spoil aquifers developed in the three reclaimed mines are not anticipated <br />to discharge into surface streams. Therefore, following mining, surface water <br />and ground water resources are not expected to be degraded by spoil water. <br />Finding <br />Pursuant to Rule 2.07.6(2)(c), the Division finds that Walden Coal Company's <br />Bourg Strip Mine has been designed to prevent material damage to the <br />hydrologic balance of surface and ground water outside the permit area. <br />