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The Hay Gulch alluvial valley floor (AVF) has been identified as an aquifer in <br />the study area. The Blue Flame Coal, La Plata No. 1 and King Coal Mines have <br />been designed to minimize, to the extent possible, impacts to the alluvial <br />aquifer. The sediment ponds at the National King Coal operation have never <br />discharged into the AVF. The proposed sediment pond at the Blue Flame site as <br />well as the existing La Plata No. 1 sediment pond, have been designated to <br />store the runoff from a 10-year, 24-hour storm event. No discharge is <br />expected from any of these ponds due to a storm event of lesser magnitude, or <br />as a result of snowmelt. Furthermore, monitoring of the alluvial aquifer down <br />gradient from the National King Coal operation, indicates that the quality of <br />the alluvial aquifer is not being diminished by coal mining operations. <br />Alluvial water quality monitoring programs committed to by both La Plata Coal <br />and National King Coal will help delimit the potential for future impacts to <br />this alluvial system. <br />Due to the hydrologic characteristics of the Hay Gulch alluvial aquifer, and <br />to the manner in which the mining operations are, or proposed to he, <br />conducted, it has been determined that no significant cumulative hydrologic <br />impacts to the alluvial aquifer will occur. <br />Pursuant to C.R.S. 34-33-114(2)(C), the Division has assessed the probable <br />cumulative hydrologic impacts to the ground water and surface water basins <br />defined in this document, from permitted and anticipated mining operations. <br />The Division finds that the King Coal operation has been designed to prevent <br />material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area. <br />X. Climatological Information and Air Resources - Rules 2 <br />Information pertaining to climatology and air resources is presented in <br />Section 2.04.8 of the permit application. <br />Climatological information was obtained from the Fort Lewis Station since no <br />site-specific data were available. This station is located about 3.5 miles <br />east of the mine site in Kline, Colorado. The elevation of the reporting <br />station is around 7,610 feet whereas the mine is at about 7,500 feet above sea <br />level. Even with this elevational difference, the information from the Fort <br />Lewis Station should be comparable to the mine site due to their close <br />proximity. The average monthly temperature is 43oF with an average annual <br />precipitation of 18.8 inches. The mean number of annual frost-free days is 96. <br />When the original findings document (February 4, 1982) was issued, National <br />King Coal was in the process of amending the air emission permit to reflect an <br />increase in production from 70,000 tons per year to 90,000-120,000 tons per <br />year. The Colorado Department of Health issued permit 82LP034F (1) on May 24, <br />1982 allowing an annual production of coal to not exceed 250,000 tons. (This <br />permit is presented on page 17B of Section 2.03.10.) <br />The operation is in compliance with the requirements of this section. <br />-16- <br />