PERMFILE121736 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MEETING WITH WATER USERS -EAST AND MAIN ROATCAP DRAINAGE October 09, 1984 • Attending this meeting were N. W. Grosse-Rhode 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 the coal and, at the same time, protect the water. The purpose of the meeting was to review the water protection plans with the owners of the adjudicated water rights. CWI received a long term lease issued by BLM in May, 1984. One of the lease stipulations is to provide for water protection. This is also part of the permit which is at Colorado Mined Land Reclamation in Denver for their approval. 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 was purchased from Pittsburgh and Midway (Gulf Oil) and a lease modification was obtained providing access to the Farmer's Mine from CWI's leased area. The long term lease area was chosen from a larger area which was designated by BLM for public leasing. The lease purposely excluded any area that would entail mining under West Roatcap or Terror Creek. The per- mit area constitutes approximately 5,000 acres and is good for five years. Rather than delay some problem that could come up in the future, CWI has chosen to address the water issues at this time. Some of the permit area is outside the lease to show the angle of draw for subsidence. Any area that could possibly be affected would be permit- ted. 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 Mesa. • In the studies of water occurrences, two types of water have been identified: surface and near-surface water from precipitation and run-off,