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Aquifers: <br /> The Blue Flame Coal Mine is not a major groundwater recharge area, and <br /> this portion of the basin has had very limited groundwater development. Most <br />of the wells in the general area have been completed in the unconsolidated <br />alluvial gravels and terrace or deposits of the La Plata River along Highway <br />]40 South of Hesperus, approximately 4.4 miles East of the Blue Flame Coal <br />Mine, or in consolidated aquifers further South down-dip in the basin. Two <br />forniations, the Cliff House Sandstone and the Menefee Formation are important <br />and relative to the proposed mining operations. The underlying Point iLOOkout <br />Sandstone will not be affected by the mining operations. <br />Cliff House Sandstone: This unit comprises the caprock to the dip <br />slopes of the area. Based on information provided by the Menefee Landl~COmpany <br />I <br />exploration drilling program for a proposed coal mine bordering the Blue Flame <br />i <br />Coal Mine, the sandstone is not saturated and is above the potentiometric <br />surface in the immediate project vicinity. No water was encountered in any <br />drill hole during this program at a level above or in the Upper Menefee seam. <br />• All wells in this unit were dry in the Cliff House Formation. The nearest <br />water well completed in this unit cr the two units described below is approri- <br />mately four miles South of the property. I <br />it <br />Menefee Formation: The upper part of this formation contains the coal <br />seam being mined at the Blue Flame Coal Ftine. Forty years of mining Ihas not <br />encountered any groundwater in this formation. There has never been any dis- <br />charge of groundwater from the Blue Flame Coal Mine. Some surface runoff from <br />the upslope of the permit area will pool at the portal in high runoff years. <br />Normally, the amount of water is relatively small and does not present any <br />problems being quite rapidly disipated by evaporation. <br />The mine will be located over 40 feet above the potentiometric level <br />~dithin the Menefee formation. There is no indication that the aquifer will be <br />affected by the Blue Flame Coal Mine. <br />,r 11 <br />u <br />