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Summary • Twentymile Coal Company (TCC), a subsidiary of Cypzus western Coal Equipment Company (CWCEC), has submitted a permit revision application (PR-02) for the Foidel Creek Mine. The Foidel Creek Mine is an underground operation located approximately 22 miles southwest of Steamboat Springs, Colorado in Routt County. The existing surface facilities are located in, aad adjacent to, a strip pit excavated by Colorado Yampa Coal Company's (CYCC) surface mining operation. Operations at Foidel Creek Mine were initiated after the Division approved a five-year pilot phase mining plan as a revision to CYCC's Permit C-79-177 in May, 1983. Subsequently, the underground mine operated by Twentymile Coal Company was administratively separated from the surface mine operated by CYCC. Permit C-82-056 was issued to TCC for the Foidel Creek Mine pilot phase. Other facilities within the permit area but separate from the main portal facility area include the Fieh Creek Borehole (FCB) facility and the Fish Creek Tipple (FCT) facility. The FCB is located on Fish Creek approximately 2 miles northwest of the main facility area. it consists of 2 dewatering boreholes, a ventilation shaft, 3 treatment ponds, associated roads, a substation, and a utility building. The FCT facility is located approximately 5 miles northeast of the main portal area, about B miles downstream from the FCB facility. It was originally permitted separately under permit # C-81-036 but since has been incorporated into the Foidel Creek permit # C-82-056. It consists of a rail loadout, crushing and screening equipment, conveyors, stockpile areas, and a sediment control system of ditches and one pond. The FCT facility has been and is currently inactive as of the writing of this document in February of 1993. The revision application (PR-02) seeks to expand the affected area of the • permit by about 5 percent in the southwest section of the current permit area. It also seeks to "square up" the southeastern portion of the permit boundary near the main facility. The significant technical aspect of this revision is the proposed undermining of a county road (#27), a power line, telephone lines, a dwelling, and the Twentymile Sandstone cliff outcrop. Longwall mining in this area may produce surface subsidence of up to 5 feet. Details of the subsidence predictions can be found in the appropriate sections of this document and the permit document. Descriotion of the Environment The Foidel Creek Mine is located approximately twenty-two miles southwest of Steamboat Springs, in Routt County; Colorado. The permit area varies in elevation from 6,600' to 7,500' with the portal openings at 6,885' along Foidel Creek. Generally, the topography consists of gently rolling hills, dip slopes and cliff outcrops. Flatter topography is evident in the valleys of the major streams draining the area (Fish Creek and Foidel Creek)as well ae along the gentle dip slopes. Prominent cliffs have fozmed where massive sandstone units outcrop. Coal hoe historically been mined by surface methods on the dip slopes where overburden thickness allows for economic extraction. This type of mining has been and is currently taking place within Twentymile Park around its margins or where folding has elevated a major coal seam within the basin. Foidel Creek Mine is currently the only active underground operation within Twentymile Park. The mine is a longwall operation, using continuous miners for entry and development work only. The underground mains are primarily north-south and the longwall panels are oriented to be mined from west to east. The proposed revision PR-02 will increase the permit area to 14,812 acres and the affected area to 6,713 acres. The main surface facilities area along Foidel Creek, the Fish Creek borehole, and the Fish Creek tipple occupy 338 disturbed acres. Mineral ownership ie 3973 federal • acres, 4720 state acres, and 5118 private acres. Surface ownership ie 200 federal acres, 4000 state acres and 10612 private acres. The main mine facilities lie in Sections 29,31,32, TSN,RB6W of the 6th Principle Meridian.