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Third Park Federal Coal Exploration License Environmental Assessment TABLE 1 LEGAL DESCRIPTION FOR THE PROPOSED THIRD PARK FEDERAL COAL EXPLORATION LICENSE Township, Range' Section Quarter Section 22 E''/z of NE'/a 23 '/z ofN%z,SW'/eofNWYe 47N, R17W 12 E''/z of E%z 13 Portion of E''/z of NE'/< north of the north canyon rim of San Miguel River approximately 76 acres) Note: New Mexico Principal Meridian APPLICANT: Western Fuels-Colorado, LLC (WFC) DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES Background/Introduction: On March 3, 2006, Western Fuels-Colorado, LLC (WFC) submitted an application to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado State Office for the Third Park Federal Coal Exploration License (Third Park CEL) (project file). The area covered by the proposed exploration license is entirely on lands and minerals administrated by the BLM in Third Park, in western Colorado. Under the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 1976 and implementing regulations at 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3410, the BLM has authority and responsibility for issuing coal exploration licenses. Proposed Action: The area of the proposed Third Park CEL (Project) encompasses 4,738 acres and lies within portions of Township 47 North, Range 16 and 17 West, New Mexico Principal Meridian, in Montrose County, Colorado (Figure 1). WFC proposes to drill 98 exploration holes to characterize the Lower Dakota coal formation. No site construction or blading is planned or anticipated for [he exploration hole sites. Overland travel includes 51 access routes, which total about 48,750 feet in length. The average length of each access route is 956 feet (See Figure 1 and Table 2). No blade work or surface improvements are proposed for any of the access routes or drilling locations. The proposed exploration activities, including reclamation of drill sites and access routes, are anticipated to occur over a 2-month period during the summer and fall of 2007. A rubber-tired, truck-mounted drill rig, comparable in size to a Gardner Denver 1000 or 1500, would be used to the drill the holes. Hydraulic jacks would be used to level the drill rig. No site construction or blading is planned. All drilling would be done with air/mist/foam, and the drill rig would have a mud pump to facilitate mixing and pumping mud for hole plugging and abandonment. Cuttings would be collected and described in 5-foot intervals and would be used to plug holes. {Veslern Fuels CEL Enviranmenlal Assessment 2