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USGS Quadrangle maps of Milner and Rattlesnake Butte cover [he majority of the permit area. Disturbed <br />areas of the mine include the main surface facilities area along Foidel Creek and numerous smaller outlyine <br />facilities. These mine-related facilities result in 460 total disturbed acres. The main mine facilities lie in <br />Sections 29.31, 32, T7N, R86W of the 6th Principle Meridian and are located in, and adjacent to, a strip pit <br />excavated originally by Colorado Yampa Coal Company s (CYCC) surface mining operation (No. C-81-071). <br />Other facilities currently within [he permit area, but separate from the main portal facility area, include the Fish <br />Creek Borehole (FCB) facility, the Southwest ventilation facility (SW vent}, the Eastern Ivtining District <br />ventilation facility (EMD vent), the Eastern Mining District dewatering facility (EMD borehole), the <br />Sandstones substation and North Escape Shaft, the Fish Creek Tipple (FCT) facility and the Eastern Mining <br />District grout hole pad. <br />The Fish Creek Borehole (FCB) is located on Fish Creek approximately 2 miles northwest of the main facility <br />area in Section 25, TSN R87W. It consists of 2 dewatering boreholes, an inactive ventilation shaft, 3 treatment <br />ponds, associated roads, a substation, a utility building, and water treatment equipment. The SW vent was <br />reclaimed in 1996 and is located in Section 36, TSN R87W. The EMD vent facility is located in Section 14, <br />TSN R86W and consisu of two ventilation shafts (intake air and return air), intake air heating unit, associated <br />buildings, powerlines, and fuel tank. The EMD borehole disturbed area is located in Section 21, TSN R86W <br />and consists of a small pump building, a buried water return line and topsoil stockpiles. The Sandstones <br />substation in Section 20, TSN R86W no longer serves as a power drop to the mine. The nearby North Escape <br />Shaft has no facilities but exists as a completed 3 foot diameter shafr to be used only-as an underground <br />emergency extraction pointfor miners. <br />The Fish Creek Tipple (FCT) facility is located approximately 5 miles northeast of the main portal area in <br />Section 2, TSN R86W, about 7 miles downstream on Fish Creek from the FCB facility. It was originally <br />permitted sepazately under permit No. C-81-036 but since has been incorporated into the Foidel Creek permit <br />No. C-82-056. It consists of a rail loadout, crushing and screening equipment, conveyors, stockpile areas, and <br />a sediment control system of ditches and one pond. The FCT facility has been idle since Energy Mine No. 3 <br />(No. C-84-062) completed mining in 1986, and is currently inactive as of the writing of this document in April <br />2000. <br />Locally significant are the rock units of Twentymile Pazk Basin which dip So - 30o toward the central portion of the <br />basin. Notmal faulting has been identified throughout the permit area, striking generally northwest to southeast, <br />with displacement of zero to 85 feet. A reverse fault running in an arcuate line northward through the west central <br />part of the basin shows displacement of 0-80 feet. Smaller lateral faults were encountered in the 9R and lOR <br />gateroads while driving development out into the Eastern Mining District. <br />The near-surface bedrock units are composed of sedimentary rocks of marine and non-marine origin. These <br />sedimentary rocks were formed through the transgression and regression of an epicontinental sea and are comprised <br />of sequences of sandstones, siltstones, shales and coal. Four geologic formations exist in the vicinity of the Eastern <br />Mining District. They are, in ascending order, the Mancos Shale, the Iles and Williams Fork Formation of the <br />Mesaverde Group, and the Lewis Shale. These strata were all deposited during the late Cretaceous Period. <br />Generally, the strata dip to the center of the basin at about 7~. <br />Three economically important coal seams, the Lennox, Wadge, and Wolf Creek coals, are located within the locally <br />important Middle Coal Group of the Williams Fork Formation. At this time, the Wadge coal seam is the only seam <br />being mined in the Foidel Creek underground mine. The Wadge Coal seam was strip mined in CYCC's adjacent <br />Energy No. I and Eckman Park Mines (No. C-81-071) and Energy Mine No. 3 (C-64-062). <br />C~ U H B \C 82 056\R N 03\ R N 0 3 F I N D. d oc <br />