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22TG3E3XC and 22TG4E4XC Sample Hole(s) Project Plan <br />Minor Revision 328 <br />Page 8 of II <br />with a 0.5 acre drill pad and 10 year, 24-hour storm event and 1-ft of freeboard. Mud pit <br />designs and calculations for 1.0 foot of freeboard have been previously approved by the <br />CDMG. As the mud pits will be excavated into native soil, mud pit slope failure is not a <br />concern. <br />Water for the drilling operations will be pumped to the drill sites from the mine <br />dewatering polishing pond using high-pressure hose in combination with frac tanks and <br />high-pressure pumps. Mountain Coal Company, L.L.C. owns water rights for these water <br />resources. <br />DRILLING ACTIVITIES <br />Drilling activities for the proposed methane drainage wells will include mobilizing drill <br />equipment to the sites and drilling approximately 1,500 feet of 7-inch diameter casing <br />into bedrock to a zone just above the coal seam. A depiction of a typical completed <br />well sample hole will be forwarded to the CDMG along with the typical plug and <br />abandonment diagram. <br />Currently, MSHA is requiring monitoring and inspection of the wells twice daily after <br />installation. It is anticipated the frequency of monitoring would decrease to a weekly <br />monitoring and inspection of the installation. Routine maintenance will occur to the <br />extent necessary, simultaneous with the weekly monitoring. <br />PROPOSED DRILL HOLE PLUGGING METHODS <br />In accordance with the Coal Program Guidance Document -Methane Drainage and <br />Monitoring Wells, MCC will plug and abandon these MDWs per DMG Rules 2.05.4 and <br />4.07.3 at the minimum. A mechanical packer will be set at the Iowest possible point in <br />the well (note that subsidence damage to the casing may preclude access to the entire <br />depth of the casing). Above this packer the hole will be plugged with CDMG approved <br />materials to the bottom of the 5-foot cement surface cap using tremmie line. The top 5- <br />feet of the well below the sub-surface casing cut-off point (3-feet below the surface) will <br />be plugged with a cement cap. The top 3-feet of the casing will then be cut off and the <br />hole filled in with subsoil. A permanent mazker shall be installed on top of the plug <br />identifying the well. The pad will then be reclaimed to approximate original contour. <br />The Methane Drainage Well and other drilling experience for Mountain Coal Company <br />has shown that no aquifers have yet been encountered. However, the procedures <br />described above would serve to properly protect any aquifers that would be encountered. <br />RECLAMATION PLAN <br />Reclamation of the pad will follow when it is decided by MCC that the drill hole(s) aze <br />not performing their intended purpose. <br />