PERMFILE110240

• Permit No: C1980007A
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 7/10/2003
• Section_Exhibit Name: Exhibit 69 Section A I. Initial Project Description
• Media Type: D
• Archive: Yes

Mountain Coal Company Exhibit 69
West Elk Mine Sylvester Gulch Facilities
wooden poles will be installed. In addition, two small switchgear houses,
approximately 120 sq. ft. each resting on one foot thick concrete slabs wilt be
constructed: one at the shafts site and one at the electric borehole location.
Distribution power lines will follow new light use and/or access/haul roads to the
extent possible. Brush crushing approximately 25 feet wide will occur over
approximately 1,200 feet of the distribution line routings. Topsoil salvage and
excavation fill quantities associated with construction of the distribution line
support structures are discussed in the paragraphs below.
Roads
Road construction includes construction of approximately 4,600 feet of new 24-foot wide
access/haul road to the substation and shaft sites, widening (to 24 feet from 14 feet) and
upgrade of approximately 5,000 feet of the existing Sylvester Gulch access road to haul
road standards, and construction of approximately 11,000 feet of new 14-foot wide light
use road to provide maintenance access to the existing water tank and new transmission
and distribution power lines. All roads will be designed and built in accordance with
Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board (CMLRB) Rule 4.03 and American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standards for
grade, sideslopes, berming, drainage, and erosion and sediment control practices. A three
foot high guardrail will be built along approximately 2,900 feet of the shaft site access
road. Safety berms will be constructed for embankments not protected by guardrail.
The road to access the shafts site will be built to haul road specifications and will be
surfaced with 8 inches of compacted road base. Light-use roads will be surfaced with 8
inches of compacted road base. Roadway ditches and cross drain culverts will be built to
carry the peak flow from the 10-year, 24-hour storm event. Culverts for road crossings of
Sylvester Gulch and major tributaries will be built to carry the peak flow from the ]00-
year, 24-hour storm event. Culvert and ditch designs are included in Exhibit 66.
Sylvester Gulch Road Modification
The upgraded and modified Sylvester Gulch road will have an average grade of
7.6% with a maximum grade of 10%. Typical cut slopes will be 2:1. Embankment
fill slopes will vary from 2:1 to as steep as 0.5:1 at engineered embankment
locations. Approximately 1,700 feet of engineered embankments will be built in
order to avoid Sylvester Gulch channel relocations and minimize impacts on
Sylvester Gulch wetland and riparian areas. Two slide areas and one uphill wetland
area are cut by this road alignment. Slope stability analyses have been performed
for these areas indicating minimum safety factors of 1.3 in all areas. Approximately
2,000 cubic yards of the existing subsoil pile located at the current intersection of
the main haul/access road and the Sylvester Gulch Road will also be excavated as
part of the road realignment. This material will be moved to a different subsoil pile
8 Nov. 1996 PR07R; Revised Muy 1997 MR216
Revised Jul. /997 MR219; Revised June 1003 MR297