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• Foidel Creek flows adjacent to the TCC Foidel Creek Mine surface facilities and receives treated efFluent from a <br />series of sediment ponds established at the facility. Mine site drainage is controlled through seven (7) sediment <br />ponds (Ponds T, B, C, D, E, F, and G -see Figure 2 in Map Pouch at back of report). Mine water is discharged <br />from the mine and routed through Pond D prior to being discharged to Foidel Creek. <br />The Fish Creek drainage is located north of the Foidel Creek Mine surface facilities area and overlies tracts, <br />which have been longwall mined. Fish Creek runs through the Twentymile Park syncline area. Mine water <br />historically discharged into Fish Creek via the Fish Creek Borehole facility (discharge site 115), however that <br />practice ceased in early 2005, and water is now directed back underground for dust suppression. <br />Spoil springs from the former surface operations at the Fish Creek Tipple site (east of the TCC Foidel Creek <br />Mine and Twentymile Park area) also discharge to Fish Creek at surface site 62. <br />The southwest area of TCC (Eckman Park area), have been reclaimed and has been released from bond. In <br />addition, the former surface mine area referred to as Area 1 was released from bond in January 2002. As a result, <br />the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) subsequently approved eliminating Ponds <br />A (Eckman Park) and H (Area 1) from our ongoing NPDES monitoring program. <br />Surface coal mining has been conducted in the area since the 1960's. The Fish Creek Tipple site was constructed <br />• in 1974, and ceased operation in 1983. The Foidel Creek Mine underground operation was later established in <br />1983, and has been an on-going operation using a longwall mining process since 1989. This is a form of <br />underground mining where a 1000 foot long wall is mined in a single slice (typically 1-2 m thick). The block of <br />coal being mined, known as the longwall "panel", may be on the order of 12,000 feet long. The gate road along <br />one side of the wall is called the main gate, while the other side is called the tail gate. The end of the block that <br />includes the longwall equipment is called the "face". Air is provided by ventilation fans and associated bleeder <br />vent shafts from the surface. The advantage of longwall mining is that over 80 percent of the coal is recovered, <br />compared with about 50 percent for the traditional pillar method. In addition, subsidence is immediate, allowing <br />for better planning by the mining company. The Foidel Creek Mine portals are faced-up in the down dip high- <br />wall of the strip mine. <br />Hydrologic monitoring was initiated by CYCC in 1979. TCC continues the monitoring program under updated <br />DRMS permit requirements, which is discussed in the next section. <br />Since mid-1987, hydrologic monitoring and reporting has primarily been conducted by TCC personnel. In May <br />of 1995, a private firm (Miller Water Monitoring Service) was contracted to assist with hydrologic monitoring at <br />the TCC sites, and continues to assist in monitoring to date. Prior to June 1986, water quality analyses were <br />performed by the on-site CYCC laboratory. From 1987 to 2000, water quality analyses were primarily performed <br />by ACZ Laboratories (formerly Bookcliffs) of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Beginning in 2001, water quality <br />• analysis has primarily been performed by SGS North America laboratory of Denver, Colorado. Beginning in <br />mid-2005, some analyses has again been performed by ACZ Laboratory of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. <br />2 <br />