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MEETING WITH WATER USERS -TERROR CREEK AND COAL GULCH DRAINAGE October 11, 1984 • Attending this meeting were Campbell Stanton, Kate Roberts, Carla Tschoepe, Bill O'Bannon, Melvin Moore, Art Estin, Red Hughes and Steve Wolcott representing the water users and Ron Stucki, Matt Sakurada, Jim Roberts and Kathy Geddes, Colorado Westmoreland Inc. Introductory remarks were made by Ron Stucki, Vice President and Gen- eral Manager of Colorado Westmoreland. Matt Sakurada, Manager of Engineering, Human Resources and Material Control, Colorado Westmoreland Inc., explained that Colorado Westmoreland Inc. (CWI) realized the importance of water and wanted to mine coal and, at the same time, protect water. The purpose of the meeting was to review protection plans with the owners of the adjudicated water rights. Because water is transferred with property, some of the owners of water rights aren't known; only the applicant is recorded. Those who are known were invited to the meetings in small groups divided according to the drainage they were in. There were three groups: Steven's Gulch users; East Roatcap and West Roatcap users and the Terror Creek and Coal Gulch users. A description of the CWI's current fee area, leases and the new long term lease was discussed and shown on a topography map. Matt explained that the first mining was done on a 120-acre fee parcel and then two Fed- eral leases were obtained, one consisting of 311 acres and the other of 856 acres. The Farmer's Mine (320 acres) was purchased from Pittsburgh and • Midway (Gulf Oil) along with a 40-acre fee parcel, and a lease modification was obtained providing access to the Farmer's Mine from CWI's leased area. CWI received along term lease which was issued in May, 1984. One of the lease stipulations provides for water protection. This is also part of the permit which is at Mined Land Reclamation Division for approval. Some of the permit area is outside the lease to show the angle of draw for sub- sidence, but any area that could possibly be affected will be permitted. The long term lease boundary was chosen from a large, 100,000 acre area which was designated by BLM for public leasing. This area purposely excluded any undermining of West Roatcap Creek or Terror Creek stream chan- nels. The permit area constitutes approximately 5,000 acres. Jim Roberts, CWI Geologist, was introduced. He talked about the hydrologic cycle of precipitation, run-off, storage and evapotransporation. The hydrologic balance of the lease area shows approximately 25 inches of precipitation and 16 1/4 inches of runoff per year. The remaining eight inches are used by the native plants, mostly oak brush, and are returned to the atmosphere through evapotransportation. He said awide-spread aquifer, the Rollins Sandstone, approximately 180 feet below the "D" Coal Seam, extends from the North Fork Valley to Northwestern Colorado and is the basal member of the Mesaverde Formation. The coal seam and enclosing strata dip toward the north beneath Grand ~4esa. •