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EN RE: TWENTYMILE COAL COMPANY (PP2009-008) <br />SPECIAL USE PERMIT <br />Chad Phillips and Connie Staponski, Planning; Jerry Nettleton and Mike Berdine, <br />Twentymile Coal; Bill Mitzelfeld, citizen, and Keith Sutter and John Mayfair, SDI, were present. <br />Mr. Sullivan was absent for the following agenda item. <br />Ms. Staponski said that the petition was to amend Special Use Permit PP2005-026 to <br />relocate two ventilation shafts, an intake and a return, and construct an access road, on land <br />located at the Foidel Creek Mine, on County Road 27, Oak Creek. She said that the Planning <br />Commission voted at its May 7, 2009 meeting to recommend approval of the petition. She <br />noted that a Grading and Excavating Permit had been approved; reclamation and weed control <br />plans had been submitted by the petitioner; a reclamation bond with the State was in place, <br />and the current permit would expire August 24, 2014. She said that no correspondence <br />regarding the petition had been received except an e-mail from the DiIvision of Wildlife that <br />recommended deleting a restriction on the height of topsoil stockpiles and topsoil that would be <br />removed from the site and allowing the seed mix to be agreed upon by the landowner, <br />contingent on it containing no aggressive grasses. <br />Mr. Berdine accompanied his description of the proposal with photographs of the <br />system and drilling rig. He stated that the petitioner had begun moving dirt. He estimated that <br />between five and six acres would be disturbed by the project. He said that a utility bore hole <br />would be drilled to pump nitrogen into the mine and remove oxygen to reduce the <br />explosiveness of the atmosphere in the mine. He indicated the location of concrete pads that <br />would be built to seat the transformers. He noted that an easement for a Yampa Valley <br />Electric Association power line was still being negotiated. He said that the settling ponds could <br />either be removed during reclamation or could remain to be used by thE: landowner as stock- <br />watering ponds. He explained that as part of the reclamation plan, a steel casing would be <br />placed in the shaft and grouted, and the material removed to create the shaft would be used to <br />refill the shaft, which would then be plugged by a concrete cap. He stated that drilling would <br />occur around the clock, seven days a week, beginning June 8, 2009 and lasting between three <br />and four weeks; the entire project would last approximately four months. In regard to noise, he <br />said that no issues had been reported on the existing permit; he did not have readings from the <br />manufacturer on the decibel levels of the fans, but Engineering Dynamics, Inc. had been <br />contracted to take periodic key location sound readings and to design and install a silencer <br />system prior to the onset of drilling. He said that a snow-fence type fence would be installed <br />around the pits, and a cattle fence would encompass the 14-acre site. He explained later that <br />water would be in the shaft and the cutting pits during the drilling phase of the operation. <br />When the shaft liner was installed and grouted, the water in the shaft would be pumped into <br />the cutting pits. The water would be hauled away as soon as possible and the pits would be <br />allowed to dry up. Ultimately, no water would remain in the pits. <br />Mr. Nettleton added that the 300 hp centrifugal fan had lower volume air flow than the <br />current fan but was under higher pressure and reiterated that Peabody's agreement with Cross <br />Page 2009-287 <br />May 26, 2009 <br />Routt County Board of County Commissioners' Minutes