Laserfiche WebLink
CHAPTERTWO Alternatives <br />• Sources and routes for delivering the water to the mine facilities <br />• Means or locations for disposing of waste rock <br />• Future coal lease area <br />Alternatives that would address each of these issues are discussed in the following sections. <br />2.2 MEANS OF TRANSPORTING THE COAL <br />The coal must be moved approximately 15 miles, from the mine area near the Mesa County and <br />Garfield County line, south to the existing Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) line that runs past <br />Mack and Loma. The following means of coal transport were examined: <br />• Rail <br />• Trucks -off road and over the road <br />• Slurry pipeline <br />• Conveyor system <br />Rail <br />Moving the coal by rail is the most efficient means of transporting coal due to the extensive <br />volume and capacity of rail cars. Approximately 8,000,000 tons will need to be moved from the <br />Red Cliff Mine annually. Significant mining of the coal reserves in the area has not occurred <br />because of the remote location and difficulties in getting the coal to market. A railroad spur <br />would be able to carry the 8,000,000 tons per year (tpy). There would be an average of four <br />trains per day, two full and two empty. Each rail car would carry approximately 100 to 110 tons <br />of coal, and each train would consist of between 100 and 120 rail cars with three, four, or five <br />locomotives. <br />Truck <br />Coal could be transported by trucks from the clean coal stockpile to a loading facility near Mack. <br />If trucks similar to those used to haul coal over the road from McClane Mine to Cameo Power <br />Plant were used (25-ton), approximately 1,760 round trips per day (24-hour period) would be <br />required to haul the 8,000,000 tpy of coal. This was determined to not be a practical or feasible <br />alternative due to the number of trucks required, safety concerns, and impacts to State Highway <br />(SH) 139. <br />Another trucking alternative would be to construct a dedicated haul road from the mine facilities <br />to a loading facility at Mack using large off-road haul trucks. This would require the use of <br />approximately ten 240-ton trucks and an average of 93 trips per 24-hour period, if the loading <br />facility was located on the UPRR mainline near Mack. Around-the-clock trucking operations <br />would still be required. The alternative of using a private haul road and 240-ton trucks was <br />considered in amore-detailed secondary screening, as shown in Table 2-1, Alternatives - <br />Secondary Screening. <br />2-2 <br />