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removing timber and other woody plants outside the areas specified for construction. The only <br />exceptions are for landscaping, erosion control, or fire prevention. When trees and other woody <br />material aze removed, they aze shredded and used for mulch during revegetation or disposed of in <br />an approved manner or area, <br />All cut and fill slopes are designed and based on the recommendations of the geotechnical engineer. <br />In constructing slopes, Mountain Coal Company uses appropriate methods, such as benching, <br />staggered benches, slope rounding, feather-back clearing lines, roughened surfaces, and special <br />revegetation work, to minim;?e the overall impact. <br />Mountain Coal Company revegetates all those areas disturbed by mining activities as soon as <br />practicable. The goal of the reclamation effort is to return the disturbed land to its original level of <br />usefulness. Revegetation will establish permanent cover for erosion control. <br />During construction, every effort is made to prevent fires at all times. Fuels, lubricants, explosives, <br />and other potentially flammable items aze stored in a manner to prevent fires. No burning of brush, <br />timber, or other waste materials is allowed without clearance from the proper authorities having <br />jurisdiction over open burning. Finally, if a fire does occur, trained fire control teams drawn from <br />personnel at the mine site are prepazed and available to extinguish it. <br />The majority of the surface facilities at the West Elk Mine are clustered together neaz the mine <br />portals (Map 53). Major surface facilities at the main mine site include the office and bathhouse <br />building, warehouse, maintenance shop, three-sided warehouse, surface shop building, bulls fuel <br />storage area, bulk rock dust bin and compressor building, potable water treatment plant, wastewater <br />treatment plant, coal stack tubes (see Section 2.05.3(7)), and crushing and screening facilities (see <br />Section 2.05.3(7)). All of these facilities are on land owned by Mountain Coal Company. <br />Expanded descriptions for some of these facilities are provided below. A few facilities are located <br />in outlying azeas, including the unit-train loadout (Map 53), the Lone Pine Gulch mine ventilation <br />fan and substation (Map 53A), and the Sylvester Gulch Facilities Area (SGFA) (Map 53B), which <br />includes ventilation shafts, the F-Seam ventilation fan, mine dewatering and treatment facilities, <br />substation, and other support facilities. Construction of the SFGA began in the Spring of 1997. <br />Descriptions of these facilities aze provided in following discussions, and a detailed description of <br />the SFGA is included in Exhibit 69. <br />Office and Bathhouse <br />Mountain Coal Company completed an office and bathhouse building in September 1992 (Map <br />53). This building is approximately 20,000 square feet and consists of two floors. The bathhouse <br />facilities and operations offices occupy the lower floor. The engineering and administration <br />offices occupy the upper floor. An as-built construction description is provided in Exhibit 68. <br />Warehouse <br />Mountain Coal Company expanded the wazehouse facilities by converting the former maintenance <br />shop to wazehouse area, adding a third level mezzanine inside the existing building and <br />constmcting an office addition. The building is approximately 6,000 squaze feet on the ground <br />level. Wazehouse offices, purchasing offices and material storage occupy the first floor. Additional <br />2.05-17 Revised Jan. 1996 RN03; Revised Nov. 1996 PR07; Revised Oct. 1998 TR86 <br />