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and storage tank. Surface facilities include a coal haul road and several light duty and access roads, <br />a coal storage and waste storage area, and an equipment storage area. <br />The mining method is an open pit style surface mining method where three seams dip at an angle of <br />25 to 30 degrees and outcrop in a northeast/southwest direction across hill and valley arrangements. <br />The planned pit covers an area of 36.75 acres and is bounded on three sides by the economic limits <br />of the planned pit. The pit has a maximum highwall of 250 feet and uses anout-of-pit fill for portions <br />of the overburden until asteady-state pit is developed. The anticipated production is 300,000 tons <br />per year. <br />Raw coal will be screened in the pit then hauled to the coal storage azea. From the storage area, coal <br />will be transported off site utilizing normal highway approved trucks. <br />Coa] processing waste that is generated will be temporarily stored in a small pile, less than 10,000 <br />cubic yazds, then will be placed in horizontal lifts, compacted and covered with at least four feet of <br />overburden. The coal waste will be placed no less than 20 feet above the lowest pit water elevation. <br />Prior to any of the mining events, woody vegetative cover will be bladed into a pile for prepazation <br />of soil salvage and storage. Next, all available topsoil will be removed and stored for redistribution. <br />Topsoil stripping will vary from 6 inches to 36 inches in depth (Refer to Map 5-3 for stripping and <br />respreading depths). After the topsoil has been removed, an initial pit will be opened to provide <br />sufficient room tocreate a haulbackmethod ofopen-pit mining. The initial cut material will be placed <br />in the fill. The mining will proceed by placing the sequential cuts in the mined out area. The 5nal cut <br />will be backfilled and regraded. <br />It is planned that the massive sandstones overlying the Lewis seam will be placed mostly at the <br />bottom of the pit, with the remaining siltstone, sandstone and shale placed on top of it. The suitable <br />soil will be removed and directly redistributed over the regraded area, in sequence with mining, as <br />much as possible. If additional topsoil is needed, it will be taken from the topsoil stockpiles. Soils <br />will be tested just prior to respreading to determine application rates of nitrogen and phosphorus. <br />Small tree seedlings and shrubs will be removed from topsoil stripping areas and mechanically <br />transplanted to reclaimed azeas concurrently with the distribution of topsoil during the dormant <br />season. <br />Reclamation <br />Due to the change in land use from wildlife habitat, rangeland, and dryland farming to industrial, <br />commercial, and residential, the reclamation plan has not fully been developed to take into account <br />if the land use change is not in effect within two yeazs after mining has been completed, therefore a <br />stipulation to the permit is required. <br />Stipulation 7: DUE TO THE LAND USE CHANGE FROM WILDLIFE HABITAT TO <br />INDUSTRIAL, COMERICAL, AND RESIDENTIAL, THE MEANS OF DETRERMINING THE <br />