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The Bowie No. 2 Mine permit area is located in the North Fork Valley of the Gunnison River, <br />near the western margin of the Colorado portion of the Central Rocky Mountains. The elevation <br />of the permit area ranges from about 6,000 feet above sea level to over 8,000 feet above sea <br />level. The general area is situated along the southern flank of the Piceance Creek structural and <br />sedimentary basin. The area is bounded by Larimide structural and physiographic features on the <br />following sides: West Elk and Elk Mountains on the east; the Gunnison Uplift on the south; the <br />Uncompahgre Uplift on the west-southwest; and the Grand Mesa-Piceance Basin on the north. <br />The geologic structure of the permit area exhibits an attitude of N66'W, with a 3to 5-degree dip <br />to the northeast. There is one identified fault located in the southwest corner of the permit area. <br />The fault trends approximately N55'W and it dips 70 to 80 degrees to the northeast. The throw of <br />the fault ranges from 7 to 30 feet, with the downside located on the south side of the fault. <br />The coal in the area is situated within Mesaverde formation which contains interbedded <br />sandstones, mudstones, shales, siltones and coal beds. The Mesaverde formation lies upon the <br />Rollins Sandstone Member of the Iles formation and below the Wasatch formation. The coal <br />bearing member of the Mesaverde formation locally contains up to nine (9) coal seams. These <br />seams are located within a stratigraphic interval of approximately 500 to 600 feet above the <br />Rollins Sandstone. These coal seams are, in ascending order, the A-Seam, the B- I Seam, the B-2 <br />Seam, the C-Seam, the D-l Seam, the D-2 Seam, the E- I Seam, the E-2 Seam and the F-Seam. <br />The B-2 and D-2 Seams are mineable within the permit area, and mining will occur within the <br />D-2 Seam during the second five-year permit term, as it had during the first five-year permit <br />term. The D-2 Seam overlies the Rollins Sandstone by 350 to 450 feet, and it ranges in thickness <br />from about 8 to 16 feet. <br />Hydrology - <br />Detailed information regarding the surface and groundwater hydrology in and adjacent to the <br />Bowie No. 2 Mine permit area is provided within Sections 2_04.5 and 2.04.7 of the permit <br />application document. A brief summary is provided below, and the summary is derived from the <br />information presented in permit application Sections 2.04.5 and 2.04.7. <br />The permit and adjacent areas are generally bounded by three (3) perennial streams. These <br />streams are Terror Creek, Hubbard Creek and the North Fork of the Gunnison River, and the <br />streams are located west, east and south of the permit area, respectively. Tributary to the <br />perennial streams are the following intermittent and ephemera] streams: Freeman Gulch, <br />Stephans Draw, A-Gulch, B-Gulch, C-Gulch, D-Gulch, Dove Gulch and Sheep Corral Gulch. <br />The specific locations of these streams are depicted on permit application Map No. 9. <br />The North Fork of the Gunnison River drains an area of approximately 526 square miles. The <br />average annual yield of the North Fork of the Gunnison River from October 1993 to September <br />1994 was approximately 330,500 acre-feet. The quantity and quality of this river is influenced <br />significantly by agricultural and municipal uses. Near Somerset, Colorado, the water in the North <br />Fork of the Gunnison River is a calcium-bicarbonate type, and total dissolved solids <br />12 <br />