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PR-12 Exhibit 71 1 <br />• 1.0 SUMMARY <br />Mountain Coal Company, LLC (MCC) is planning to develop a new coal lease tract southeast of the <br />existing West Elk Mine (WEM), the Dry Fork Lease (DFL). The boundaries and location of the coal <br />lease areas are illustrated on Map 1. This document, Exhibit 71, includes a detailed hydrologic <br />characterization of the South of the Divide (SOD) and the DFL areas and a site-wide hydrologic <br />monitoring plan to support the Permit Revision (PR) for the DFL tract (PR-12). MCC retained <br />HydroGeo, Inc. (HydroGeo) to complete Exhibit 71 and to provide additional hydrologic consulting <br />services, as necessary, in pursuit of the PR-12 approval. <br />HydroGeo is very familiar with the hydrology of the WEM area, as a result of expertise gained while <br />conducting the annual hydrologic monitoring and preparing Annual Hydrologic Reports for the WEM, as <br />required by the CDMG, for the past six consecutive years. In addition, HydroGeo has over 25 years of <br />professional consulting experience covering a vast array of mining-related hydrology issues for projects <br />in the U.S. and abroad. <br />This document characterizes the surface and ground water hydrology in the SOD area including the Deep <br />Creek, Dry Fork, Lick Creek, and South Prong Creek drainages. This document also presents a <br />hydrologic monitoring plan for the WEM that is designed to provide information on the PR-12 area. The <br />hydrologic monitoring plan incorporates a separate baseline monitoring schedule for approximately one <br />year prior to expanding mine development in new areas for newly added monitoring sites (CDMG, <br />• 2005b). <br />The information presented in this report is derived, in part, from the following resources: <br />o Annual Hydrology Reports, West Elk Mine (HydroGeo, 2001 - 2005) <br />o Baseline water quality statistics, Pre-2000 data (Wright Water Engineers (WWE, 2001) <br />o Seep, Spring, and Stock Pond Inventory of the South of Divide Study Area (WWE, 1997b) <br />o Updated Natural Resources Inventory for South of Divide Study Area (VJ',VE, 2005) <br />0 2004 aerial photographs of the WEM area (MCC, 2005) <br />o U.S.G.S. quadrangle maps of the area. <br />It is important to note that the raw data used to derive baseline water quality statistics presented in this <br />report for the older monitoring sites were collected prior to year 2000 and were not available for this <br />document. However, all water quality data collected from years 2000 through 2007 are presented in the <br />appendices along with the original (pre-2000) baseline statistics. Flow data for surface water stations <br />(WY 2007) and water level data for wells (period of record) are presented graphically in the appendices. <br />September 2007 ]lydroGeo, Inc. <br />