2008-06-09_PERMIT FILE - C1980007 ‎(5)‎

• Permit No: C1980007
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 6/9/2008
• Doc Name: Exhibit 79 Deer Creek Shaft and E Seam Methane Drainage Wells Project Final-August 2007
• Section_Exhibit Name: Exhibit 80 Drilling Activities - TR111
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Chapter 2
ventilation shaft will be the collar and exhaust
equipment.
Anticipated noise and vibration issues include
large frequent blasts, hoisting machinery, muck
handling, ventilation fans, and large diesel
powered generators.
E Seam Methane Drainage Wells (MD~~
Includes:
• Drilling and casing of up to 168 MDWs
located on up to 146 drill locations over 12
years on NFS lands. Five of the drilling
locations would also serve as staging
areas. An additional six staging areas may
be used, two of which are currently
reclaimed areas. For analysis purposes,
road corridors and drill pad window
locations were used to facilitate optimal
placement of facilities in the field.
Therefore, the NEPA analysis over-
estimated the amount of ground
disturbance. The actual on-the-ground
disturbance for roads in the corridor and
on MDWs in the window will be less than
estimated with this method. Therefore, this
analysis estimates the potential
disturbance by soil type and is not
representative of the actual acres that
would be disturbed by the proposed action
(Table 3-3).
• Constructing approximately 15.8 miles of
new access road, over 12 years;
• Using and performing maintenance
(upgrading) on approximately 4.8 miles of
existing National Forest System Roads
(NFSR) and approximately 2.0 miles of
existing ATV trails on NFS lands;
• Installing passive and/or active degassing
equipment;
• Operating and maintaining wells for
ventilation of mine while recovering E
Seam reserves;
• Interim reclaiming of mud pits, seeding
and mulching outslopes and cut-slopes,
surface preparation would occur before
seeding;
18 Deer Cree
• Plugging drill holes and performing final
reclamation on pads when drill holes `
(estimated life of each MDW is tlu-ee •
years; construction and reclamation would '
span 12 years); and
• Decommissioning by obliterating all new ~-
access roads and decommissioning
existing roads to desired service level or
obliterating at end of needed project use.
Access and Road Construction
Relative to road construction, the Proposed
Action would authorize construction and use of
about 22.6 miles of roads necessary for these
operations. About 15.8 of the 22.6 miles would
be new road construction, about 4.8 miles of
upgrades to existing NFSRs, and about 2.0
miles of upgrades to ATV trails on NFS lands.
The proposed action includes a 0.6-mile re-
routing of an existing life of mine
administrative access road to address issues
related to geologic hazards, sedimentation
control and maintenance issues.
The Proposed Action includes approving .
construction of approximately 2.3 miles of new
roads (including the 0.6 mile re-route) in the
West Elk IRA. The Purpose of and Need for
these locations have been approved by the
Regional Forester as they fit an exception to
RACR (see Proposed Activities in IRA section
below).
Access to and from the E Seam MDW drilling
area and the Deer creek shaft would use a
combination of County, existing NFSRs,
existing life of mine administrative access
roads serving the coal leases, and newly
constructed administrative access roads as
follows (Figure 3):
• Daily project traffic (with the exception. of
oversize/over-length vehicles) is required
to access from the north via the Sylvester
Gulch Road (approved as a temporary
road in the 2002 Coal Methane Drainage
Project Panels 16-24 Environmental
Assessment and DN/FONSI May 2002,
and modified to a life of mine (to
approximately 2030) road in the 2006
k Ventilation Shaft and E Seam Methane Drainage Wells FEIS
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