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rivers. The Division concurs with this determination. The boundary of ,the <br />alluvial valley floors is shown on Map 25 of the permit application. Three - <br />alluvial valley floors have been identified, the Williams Fork alluvial valley <br />floor, the Yampa River/Big Bottom alluvial valley floor, and the Yampa <br />River/Round Bottom alluvial valley floor, <br />Alluvial Valley Floor Exemption <br />Mining operations that, in the year preceding August 3, 1977, a) produced coal <br />in commercial quantities and were located within or adjacent to alluvial - <br />valley floors. or b) obtained specific permit approval from the State to <br />conduct surface coal mining and reclamation operations within an alluvial <br />valley floor are exempted under Rule 2.06.8(5)(a), from the alluvial valley <br />floor provisions prohibiting mining in or adjacent to certain alluvial valley <br />floors. Ort November i2, i980, Empire Energy Corporation submitted a request <br />to exempt their existing and proposed mining operations from these alluvial <br />valley floor provisions. (See Exhibit 4 of the permit application.) <br />After reviewing that submittal, the Division determined that both the Eagle <br />No. 5 Mine and the Eagle No. 9 Mine were eligible for the exemption. <br />Materials on file with the Colorado Division of Mines, "Operator's Monthly <br />Coal Report" indicate that coal was produced in commercial quantities from the <br />Wise Hill No. 5 tAine (now called the Eagle No. 5 Mine) in the year preceding <br />August 3, 1977. Specific permit approval was granted for the Wise Hill No. 9 <br />Mine (now called the Eagle No. 9 Mine) by the Mined Land Reclamation Board on <br />March 24, 1977. <br />Stratigraphic extent of the exemption is limited to the actual extent of the <br />mine workings on August 3, 1977, and adjacent lands for which there existed <br />demonstrable financial or regulatory commitment to mine in the future. Mine <br />maps on file with the Colorado Division of Mines determine the geographical <br />extent of the area exempted for the Eagle No. 5 Mine. The geographical extent <br />of the area exempted for the Eagle No. 9 Mine was determined from the No. 9 <br />Mine Projection Map dated August, 1976 (Exhibit M of the November, 1980 <br />Alluvial Valley Floor Exemption request). <br />Surface coal mining operations conducted within the geographic extent of the ~~ <br />area eligible for the exemption are not required to comply with the <br />requirements of Rule 2.06.8(5)(a)(i) and (ii). Operations eligible for the <br />exemption, however, are required to restore the essential hydrologic functions <br />of affected alluvial valley floors as a part of the reclamation plan. <br />Wi]7fams Fork Alluvial Valley Floor <br />The approximate boundary of the Williams Fork Alluvial Valley Floor is shown <br />on Map 25 of the permit application. Presently, a local farmer hays the field <br />to the north and south of the Eagle No. 5 and 6 surface mine facilities. To <br />the south of the mine facilities is a hay field east of the railroad tracks. <br />To the north of the mine, there are hay fields surrounding the train scale and <br />paralleling the railroad track spur. These hay fields are flood irrigated by <br />the farmer and Empire Energy, The Worthington Ditch (owned by Empire Energy? <br />provides water to the hay fields. The essential hydrologic function of this <br />-16- <br />