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C, <br />SUMh1ARY <br /> <br />The Review Process, the Environmental Description <br />and <br />the Mining and Reclamation Plan <br />The Review Process <br />Henry L. and Opal Weaver are applying for a permit renewal to mine coal at the <br />Ohio Creek Coal Mine No. 2. <br />An approved permanent program permit (No. C-80-002) was issued on January 18, <br />1982. <br />A complete application for renewal of the permit was submitted on July 22, <br />1986. A preliminary Adequacy Review was forwarded to the operator on October <br />6, 1986. The operator has resolved all of the Division's concerns identified <br />during the renewal process. <br />Since Federal lands and resources are invoived, copies of the permit renewal <br />application and subsequent adequacy responses were forwarded to the Office of <br />Surface Mining (OSM) for review. OSM notified the Bureau of Land Management <br />(BLM) and the United States Fish and 'Aildlife Service (USF'd5) and solicited <br />comments from these agencies. A71 comments and concerns were resolved during <br />the adequacy review. <br />Description of the Environment <br />The mine site is on a southwest facing hillslope at an elevation of <br />approximately 9,200 feet within the Ohio Creek drainage basin. The mine is <br />located near the 41est Elk "^ountains and receives a majority of the 20 inches <br />of annual precipitation as snowfall. The coal is mined from the B seam of the <br />Mesaverde Formation. The area in which the mine is iocated is characterized <br />by numerous faults and fractures. The strata overlying and underlying the <br />coal seam are non-marine shales and sandstones. <br />The only aquifer of significant regional extent is the Rollins Sandstone which <br />is stratigraphically 200 feet below the coal seam to be mined. This unit will <br />not be affected by the mining operation. Minor amounts of ground water are <br />encountered in the vicinity of the B seam as a result of the percolation of <br />water through local fractures and faults. <br />There are no major surface drainages within the immediate vicinity of the <br />mine. The drainage from O.C. Mine No. 2 eventually enters Ohio Creek located <br />~ approximately 2 miles southwest of the mine. Ohio Creek is the only perennial <br />stream within a two-rile radius of the mine site. <br />Soils in the area are characterized as moderately deep well-drained loam soils <br />with a very dark-colored surface layer. Variability in the characteristics of <br />the soils in the area is primarily due to slope and topography. Deeper soils <br />are located in the valley bottoms and at the foot of slopes while shallower <br />soils occupy the steeper side slopes. <br />-4- <br />