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<br />-38- <br /> <br />The operation is in compliance with the requirements of this section, <br />XIII. Fish and Wildlife - Rules 2.04.11, 2.05.6(2) and 4.18 <br />Information pertaining to fish and wildlife resources is presented in Sections <br />II.G and II.H of Volume 3 of the permit application. Section IV.M of Volume 4 <br />of the application contains the fish and wildlife mitigation plan for the <br />Deserado Mine. Maps 8, 124, 125, 126, 127 and 128 in Volumes 5 and 11 depict <br />locations of various wildlife species occurrences within and adjacent to the <br />permit area. <br />At the time of issuance of the original permanent regulatory program permit, <br />the permittee had not provided sufficient information regarding fish and <br />wildlife resources and mitigation measures for their protection. Several <br />stipulations (Nos. 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28) were attached to the approval. At <br />this time all of these stipulations have been resolved. <br />Pursuant to rule 2.07,6(2)(n) and on the basis of available information, the <br />Division finds that the proposed activities will not affect the continued <br />existence of threatened or endangered wildlife species or result in the <br />destruction or adverse modification of their critical habitats. <br />The operation is in compliance with the requirements of this section. <br />XIV. Prime Farmland - Rules 2.04.12, 2.06.6 and 4.25 <br />The permittee has provided a discussion pertaining to the non-existence of <br />prime farmland in the vicinity of the Deserado Mine permit area in Section <br />II.J.2 of the application. The Soil Conservation Service has issued a <br />negative determination for the presence of prime farmland within the permit <br />area. The determination is contained in a letter to the Division from the <br />IAeeker Office of the Soil Conservation Service dated June 9, 1981. <br />The permittee has satisfactorily demonstrated that no prime farmland exists <br />within the permit area. The Division finds the operation in compliance with <br />Rule 2,07.6(2)(k). <br />XV. Operations Description - Rules 2.05.2, 2.05.3(1), 2.05.3(2) and 4.01 <br />The general operations plan for the Deserado Mine is provided in Section IV of <br />Volume 4 of the revised permit application. <br />The Deserado Mine is an underground operation utilizing both continuous miners <br />and longwall mining equipment to extract, over the life of the mine, 2 seams <br />of coal from the D (uppermost) and B coal seams. Mining operations conducted <br />during the present permit term will extract coal from the D seam only. The <br />permittee projects that B seam mining will begin in 1993. At the scheduled <br />production rate of 1.8 million tons of raw coal per year, all proposed mine <br />areas will be mined out around the year 2010. <br />Raw coal is transported out of the mine by a conveyor system leading directly <br />to the D-Portal area wash plant where the coal is crushed, cleaned, and <br />transported approximately 3.1 miles to the rail loadout facility via an <br />overland conveyor system. Clean coal is then transported by rail to the <br />