Laserfiche WebLink
• Wilcox Ranch Station, located near Bowie, Colorado, is the closest weather station to the <br />Bear Mine. Data collected at this station indicate that a similar precipitation pattern has <br />been present for seventy years (Figure 31• <br />The Wilcox Ranch Station is at a lower elevation than Somerset; therefore, the location <br />exhibits less precipitation. Wind direction at the mine site is generally west-northwest and <br />east-southeast. The wind direction is controlled by the east-west orientation of the North <br />Fork of the Gunnison River canyon. Diurnal heating and cooling of the land surface <br />produces typical mountain-valley wind patterns. Winds from the west occur during most <br />of the day while weaker winds from the east occur at night. <br />Bear Coal Company's air pollution control plan provides for control of fugitive dust by <br />graveling and periodically watering the haul and portal access roads. Bear Coal Co. has <br />installed a water spray system and has enclosed its coal handling facility to reduce fugitive <br />dust. <br />Geologv -Rules 2.04.5 and 2.04.6(2) <br />Information describing the geology of the permit area is presented in Sections 2.04.5 and <br />2.04.6 of the Bear No. 1 and 2 permit application, and Sections 2.04.5 and 2.04.6 of the <br />Bear No. 3 permit revision application. Additional geological information is presented on <br />the Regional Geology Map (Map 5), Geology Hydrology Map (Map 6), the Geologic Cross <br />Section (Map 7), and Drill Hole logs (Exhibit 8) of the Bear No. 3 permit revision <br />• application. <br />The mine is within the Paonia Coal Field. The rocks exposed in the Paonia Cgal Field <br />consist of the Mancos Shale and the coal-bearing Mesaverde Formation of Upper <br />Cretaceous Age, the Ohio Creek Conglomerate, the Wasatch Formation of Early Tertiary <br />Age, and a quartz monzonite porphyry of Tertiary Age. (Figure 4) The Mesaverde <br />Formation is of Late Cretaceous Age and conformably overlies the Mancos shale. This <br />formation consists of approximately 2,500 feet of marine and terrestrial sedimentary <br />rocks. The Mesaverde Formation is the coal-bearing formation in the region and is divided <br />into four members. The members in order of decreasing age are the Rollins Sandstone, the <br />Lower Coal Bearing (Bowie) member, the Upper Coal Bearing (Paonia) member, and the <br />Barren (Undifferentiated) member. <br />Three coal seams exist in the Lower Coal Bearing (Bowie) member, the A-Seam (Old King), <br />the B-Seam (Somerset seam), and the C-Seam (Bear). The A-Seam is immediately above <br />the Rollins Sandstone and is not currently mined. The B-Seam contains two coal zones <br />and occurs about 20 to 1 20 feet above the Rollins Sandstone. This seam is mined at the <br />Somerset Mine. The C-Seam occurs 50 to 100 feet above the B-Seam. This seam has <br />been mined at U.S. Steel's Elk Creek Mine (currently the Somerset Mine), and the Bear No. <br />1 and 2 Mines, and is currently mined at the Bear No. 3 Mine. <br />Three coal seams have been identified in the Upper Coal (Bowie) member: the D-Seam <br />(Oliver), E-Seam (Hawk's Nestl, and the F-Seam. The D-Seam occurs directly above the <br />massive sandstone of the Lower Coal Bearing member and contains three zones. This <br />• seam is currently being mined at the Orchard Valley Mine. The E-Seam occurs about <br />130 feet above the D-Seam and contains two coal zones. This seam was mined at the <br />6 <br />