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:. DRAFT <br />DISCUSSION PAPER <br />- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service <br />Windy Gap Process as It Applies to <br />Existing Coal Mines in the <br />. Upper Colorado River Basin <br />The Fish and lildlife Service (FWS) lJindy Gap Process is a procedure <br />wnereoy projects witnin the Upper Colorado River Basin are assessed, on a <br />one-time basis, 515 per acre-foot of identified streamflow depletion <br />resulting from their operations. Assessments accrue to a 525 million <br />conservation fund to study and protect endangered fish species. The means <br />of identifying streamflow depletions at existing underground and surface <br />mines is the subject of this paper. <br />Coal mining operations or coal-processing facilities which may affect <br />streamflow, either directly or indirectly, are first identified. Next, Cne <br />potential for the identified operation or process to deplete or, in some <br />cases, to augment streamflow is considered. Tne facility with which <br />streamflow effects resulting from the individual operation or process may <br />be quantified is then addressed. Finally, based on the assessments of <br />individual operations or processes, a recommendation is made to: <br />1) generally include the operation or process in individual mine streamflow <br />depletion assessments, 2) eliminate the operation or process from further <br />consideration, or 3) evaluate the depletion on a cases-by-case basis using <br />the recommended criteria. <br />