2008-06-09_PERMIT FILE - C1980007 (4)

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E 1 Longwall Panel Methane Drainage Wells Project Plan Technical Revision No. 111; Page 2 of 13 • PROJECT DESCRIPTION The proposed project consists of drilling sixteen (16) methane drainage wells (MDWs) in Longwall Panel E 1 to facilitate Longwall mining in the E Seam. The proposed wells are in Section 27, 28, 34, and 35 of T.13 S., R. 90 W., 6~' Principal Meridian, Gunnison County, Colorado. The proposed project is within the current permitted coal mining area (Permit Number C-80-007) and on land surface managed by the US Forest Service. The wells will be drilled on Federal Coal (BLM) Lease C-1362. An Environmental Impact Statement was prepared for this project by the USFS, the title is Deer Creek Shaft and E Seam Methane Drainage Wells Project. The US Forest Service is the surface management agency for the approval of drill pads and associated USFS low-volume roads. Roads are designed using Best Management Practices, field inspection, field variances (due to sensitive resource features) and design criteria of low-volume roads. The Record of Decisions for this project will result when CDRMS deems MCC completeness for the E Seam Methane Drainage Wells Project. The proposed MDWs in Longwall Panel E 1 are part of the overall project but the decision approving their construction is not contingent on the Dry Fork Lease COC-67232, CDRMS Permit Revision No. 12, as this proposed surface disturbance is on previously issued Federal Lease C-1362. As such, these wells are the subject of this separate Tecluiical Revision. The attached map "E Seam Methane Drainage Well Drilling" at a scale of 1" = 800' depicts the general locations of proposed drill pads, methane drainage wells, and USFS low-volume roads. This map also shows the proposed MDWs in relation to the inventoried roadless area, land ownership, current October 2007 mine permit and lease boundaries and other mine features. SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY The elevations of the proposed borehole locations in Panel E 1 range from 7800 feet above sea level (ASL) at E1-5.5 to 8200 feet ASL at E1-55 for MDW pads. The terrain is comprised of moderate to steep slopes and mesa tops formed within the Wasatch and Mesa Verde Formations and the colluvium layers of slope debris. The principle drainages in this area are Deep Creek and Dry Fork Minnesota Creek, both are tributary to the North Fork of the Gunnison River. GEOLOGY The proposed Project would include drilling along the southeastern edge of the Piceance Basin within the Somerset Coal Field, occurring on the Somerset and Minnesota Pass U.S.G.S. 7 1/2- ininute quadrangle maps. . Initial geological work, in this area was, completed by W. T. Lee (1912), who reported his findings in, "Coal Fields of Grand Mesa and the West Elk Mountains, Colorado" (USGS Bulletin 510). Later in 1948, Ward H. Johnson published a USGS snap of the Paonia Coal Field 2