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J. Probable Hydrologic Consequences <br />A. Ground Water Description and Consequences <br />The permitted area lies on the southern terminus of the Chandler Syncline, <br />where the Southfield Mine is currently mining the Red Arrow and the Jack <br />O'Lantern seams of the Vermejo Formation. <br />Groundwater resources in the permit and adjacent areas are limited in extent <br />due to lenticular lithologies of the potential water-bearing units and because of <br />previous underground coal mine dewatering. Three adjudicated wells were <br />identified within the permit and hydrologically adjacent areas: the Corley Mine <br />Well, the Corley Company Well and the Thompson Well. The Corley Mine Well <br />produces water from mine workings in the Vermejo Formation. The Corley <br />Company Well produces from the Raton Formation. The Thompson Well is <br />within the permit area and was developed in a localized coarse gravel lens on <br />top of sandstone above the Rex Carbon Seam. <br />The operator collected baseline ground water data for the area permitted <br />through Permit Revision 1, approved in March of 1991. Permit Revision 01 <br />added 1,235 acres to the original permitted area for a total of 2,823 acres prior to <br />1993. With the inclusion of the mine fan access road, an additional 3.5 acres <br />was added to the permit for a total of 2,826.4 acres. Technical Revision 25, <br />approved 10 October, 1,996, removed 84.8 acres from the permit area. The <br />current permit encompasses 2,735.6 acres. The wells used to accumulate <br />baseline data serve to monitor both water quality and quantity effects before the <br />effects extend to the wells to the north of the permitted area, in the direction of <br />subsurface flow. If in the future, data suggest that drawdown to the Corley wells <br />is occurring, the operator may be required to install additional monitoring wells <br />closer to the wells of interest and meet the requirements of Rule 4.05.15 <br />pertaining to water rights and replacement. <br />The Corley Company Well is located approximately 800 feet from the permit <br />boundary, which coincides with the affected area boundary, and its completion <br />zone in the Raton Formation is at least 400 feet stratigraphically above the coal <br />seams that were mined. Drawdown effects to the Corley Company Well would <br />not be expected to be present. Annual Hydrology reports submitted since 1986 <br />indicate no drawdown effect is occurring. <br />The Corley Mine Well is located approximately 1,400 feet from the permitted <br />area boundary. This well produced approximately 60 gpm from the abandoned <br />workings of the Corley Mine. EFCI has the rights to this water and used the <br />water during mining and processing operations by pumping it to a storage pond <br />(Pond 3) and recycling it through Pond 2. To date, no significant drawdown <br />effects have resulted from this use and none are anticipated. <br />Page 23 of 36