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Operations on Prime Farmland <br />Operations on the prime farmlands identified in the southeast portion of the <br />proposed Nucla East permit area will be substantially the same as on other <br />areas except for soil handling procedures. Soil on prime farmland will be <br />removed in a two lift operation. One foot of topsoil and three feet of <br />subsoil will be removed, stored separately and replaced. As soil is being <br />replaced, each 12 to 18 inch lift will be scarified to reduce compaction, <br />increase infiltration, promote surface roughness, and produce a more favorable <br />plant root growth medium. The prime farmland areas will then be revegetated <br />with species suitable for hay production and will be used for irrigated <br />hayland. <br />Water Rights and Usage <br />The water rights, useage and augmentation plan is presented in Tab 16, <br />Attachment 16-1 of the permit revision application. There are eleven surface <br />water rights which have the potential of being impacted by Peabody operations <br />at Nucla East. These are upgradient of proposed sediment pond 007 at the <br />site. There are twenty-nine water wells adjacent to the mine sites. Of <br />these, just two, 1J-009 and D-041 on Figure 2 of Tab 16, could be impacted by <br />future mining activities at the Nucla East site. These two wells are 150' or <br />less deep and derive their water from near surface aquifers. At the end of <br />five .years of operation, Peabody estimated that drawdown might be one foot <br />within a 0.7 mile radius of the center of the Nucla East Pit. Peabodv <br />proposes, with owner consent, to monitor these wells to detect an.y changes in <br />their hydrologic conditions. <br />Peabody controls 13 acre-feet of storage rights (4 acre-feet at sediment pond <br />001 and 9 acre-feet at sediment pond 0071, 1.5 acre-feet of groundwater rights <br />and 114.5 acre-feet of surface water rights through 27 shares of the Colorado <br />Cooperative Company, for a total of 129 acre-feet. The permit application <br />proposes utilization of 37 acre-feet for dust abatement and construction, 25.8 <br />acre-feet in evaporative losses, 25.8 acre-feet of mine pit inflow and 25.8 <br />acre-feet of mitigation for the latter, resulting in utilization of 100.9 <br />acre-feet. As Peabody will receive a return flow credit of 25.8 acre-feet <br />from the mine pit inflow discharge, Peabody holds 78.2 acre-feet of water <br />rights in excess of their needs. <br />Potable water is supplied to Peabod.y's operation by the town of Nucla. <br />Presently, water is trucked and stored in an underground cistern at the Nucla <br />Mine Site. When the Nucla East Mine Site is operational, the town of Nuc1a <br />will construct a pipeline to provide potable water at the site. <br />The monitoring plan is described in Part II, Section B, I.B, of this Findings <br />document. It is adequate to show anv impacts on adjacent water rights to the <br />Nucla Mine sites. Peabody has shown that it has adequate water rights to <br />mitigate any discovered impacts and this complies with the requirements of <br />4.05.15. <br />-15- <br />