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The anticipated annual level of production for the mine is expected to average 1.3 million tons per <br />• year. Production at the 1.3 million tons per year level will sustain a 20-year mine life for the <br /> Orchard Valley Logical Mining Unit. Expected employment at the mine, at the full production level <br /> of 1.3 million tons per year is 100 persons. <br /> Compliance With the Land Use Plan <br /> This application is in compliance with the existing land use plan. The Uncompahgre Basin Resource <br /> Management Plan (RMP) was completed and approved in July, 1989. The land use plan <br /> determined that the application area was to be managed for both existing and potential coal <br /> development. The area is acceptable for coal development and coal production could occur <br /> without conflicting other land uses with a minimum of multiple use restrictions as described in the <br /> RMP. <br /> B. Alternative Two - Reiect Application (No-Action) <br /> Do not authorize a lease sale in response to the competitive coal lease application submitted by <br /> Cyprus. If the decision was to reject the application, Cyprus would continue its present mining of <br /> the D seam bypassing the Roatcap Creek Tract. A bypass of federal coal will most likely occur <br /> because future access to the coal seams on the application lands would be both economically <br /> prohibitive and technically difficult. As a result, the bypass would not only represent an <br /> irretrievable loss of coal but a loss of revenue to the federal government and a loss of potential <br /> energy (coal) to the nation as well. Not offering the federal coal reserves for lease would shorten <br /> the mine life by 2.5 years. <br /> 111, AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT <br /> • A detailed description of the existing environment can be found in the Orchard Valley Mine and <br /> Reclamation Plan, 1991, West Central Coal EIS, 1979, Uinta Southwest Utah Coal EIS, 1983 Coal <br /> Unsuitability Report for the Bookcliff and Paonia/Somerset Coal Planning Areas within the Uncompahgre <br /> Basin Planning Area, 1989, and the Uncompahgre Basin Resource Management Plan EIS, 1989. <br /> A brief description of the specific resources that are within the Roatcap Creek Tract is detailed below: <br /> A. Minerals <br /> The Roatcap Creek Tract lies in the Paonia-Somerset coal field which contains medium to high coal <br /> development potential deposits. The main coal beds within the area are found in the Upper <br /> Cretaceous Mesaverde Formation, which is overlain by the early Tertiary Wasatch Formation and <br /> underlain by the Upper Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The lease application is for the D seam of the <br /> Mesaverde Formation; it is averages 17 feet thick. Outcropping on the tract is the Wasatch <br /> Formation and Quaternary colluvial deposits. <br /> The Quaternary deposits are an unsorted mixture of soil and rock formed by various mass-wasting <br /> processes as landslides, earth flows, soil creep and debris avalanches. <br /> The coal bearing sedimentary strata of the Mesaverde Formation is relatively flat lying with a <br /> regional dip of 3.5 degrees to the north-northeast. Local dips of up to 7.0 degrees are also found. <br /> There have been some faults encountered in the Orchard Valley Mine, projection of one fault <br /> indicates it crosses the Roatcap Creek Tract. There is no surface evidence of faults due to the <br /> colluvial deposits and surficial cover. The overburden overlying the D seam in the application area <br /> . is approximately 2,000 feet. <br /> The potential for the discovery of conventional resources of oil and gas under the leased area is <br /> very slight. Dry wells have been drilled to the Dakota Sandstone a few miles to the southwest and <br /> Page 4 <br />