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RULE 2 PERMITS <br />Potential Impacts from Minine - Water Ouantitv <br />General and Permit Areas <br />The Colowyo surface mining activities are not expected to cause significant contamination, diminution, or <br />interruption of any underground or surface sources of water in the general area of the mine. (Please refer <br />to the Leonard Rice 1979 report found in Exhibit 7. For additional information) <br />Groundwater and surface water (description, occurrences and quality discussed in Sections 2.04.5 and <br />2.04.7) will not be affected for the short term or long term. Bishop and others (1982) conducted a <br />mathematical assessment as a part of a U. S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining and <br />Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Mined Land Reclamation Division study of the probable <br />short and long term mining effects. Their report entitled, "Cumulative Hydrologic Assessment: Effects of <br />Coal Mining on the Yampa River Basin, Moffat and Routt Counties, Colorado" concluded "off-site <br />hydrologic impacts from the Colowyo mine will be extremely limited" (author's emphasis). Furthermore, <br />"... it is concluded that for the purposes of the cumulative hydrologic assessment of this report, the <br />Colowyo Mine will have no significant off--site impacts to the hydrologic balance and thus not result in <br />measurable quality and quantity changes to the Yampa River." This report in included in its entirety in <br />Exhibit 7A. <br />Groundwater occurrence in the general area will not be affected as no interruption of aquifers or change <br />in the infiltration and percolation rates, surface contours or soil conditions will occur. The groundwater <br />discussion, measurements, and the fact that no sustained water yield is available except at great depths <br />below the lowermost coal seam to be mined shows that groundwater resources are extremely limited and <br />discontinuous. Groundwater- quality is extremely variable and will not be affected. <br />Hvdroloi!ical Balance <br />General Area <br />Based on the hydrologic balance calculations for the drainages in the general area and the fact that all <br />runoff from the mine area is to be either diverted around the mine or retained in sedimentation ponds, no <br />change will occur. Since the area to be mined is a fraction of the total watershed areas, the general area <br />will not be affected at all. This conclusion is substantiated further by Bishop and others (1982) in their <br />report "Cumulative Hydrologic Assessment: Effects of Coal Mining on the Yampa River Basin, Moffat <br />and Routt Counties, Colorado," which has been previously discussed. <br />Permit Area <br />No significant effects to the hydrologic balance of Taylor, Wilson or Goodspring Creeks will occur as a <br />result of mining. The hydrologic balance is comprised of precipitation, infiltration rates and capacities and <br />runoff to surface streams. No change will occur to precipitation unless some major regional change <br />occurs. It is possible, however, that infiltration rates may increase for a period of time as a result of the <br />reclamation practices used by Colowyo Coal Company such as furrowing and revegetation. <br />Surface water runoff will be affected by the stripping and subsequent replacing of topsoil. Runoff is <br />precipitation less all losses that do not show up as runoff. These losses or abstractions from precipitation <br />include interception, evaporation, surface storage, surface detention, bank storage and infiltration with <br />subsequent evapotranspiration. Colowyo's reclamation plan includes replacing all topsoil, reconstructing <br />all major drainage channels and re-establishing the vegetative cover. As a result, the effects of mining on <br />Rule 2 Permits 2.04.7-26 Revision Date: 6/23/08 <br />Revision No.: MR-91