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• Mountain Coal Company, LLC <br />West Elk Mine <br />Refuse Pile Expansion (RPE) Area <br />Construction Trail and Interim Topsoil Stockpile <br />Construction Equipment Trail <br />The approved existing access/haul road and RPE disturbed area boundary are shown on <br />the attached drawing. To provide safer access for tracked construction equipment (such <br />as bulldozers and excavators - not trucks) to clear and grub vegetation and salvage <br />topsoil from the steep mountain-side of the Phase IV project area above the existing RPE <br />bench, a trail will be pioneered with a bulldozer. The trail (no more than approximately <br />14' wide) will extend about 170' from the existing approved RPE access/haul road to the <br />upper, steep slopes (at approximately 6,300' in elevation) above the current RPE bench <br />elevation of approximately 6,170', to the previously approved disturbance boundary of <br />the Phase IV RPE area where the vegetation clearing and soil stripping activities will <br />occur. <br />After the Phase IV RPE area preparation has been completed and the higher elevation <br />access is no longer needed, the windrowed soils will be pulled back onto the trail. The <br />. slopes will be recontoured and the area seeded to accomplish closure and reclamation of <br />the trail. <br />Removal of Woody Vegetation <br />Trees that are more than four inches in diameter will be cut or pushed down, piled and <br />offered for limited firewood collection and/or burned. It is typical and expected that <br />other vegetation and smaller diameter woody vegetation will be broken up and <br />incorporated into the topsoil (comprising less than about 10% of the total stockpile <br />volume) during the clearing and grubbing and topsoil salvage operations. <br />Interim RPE Topsoil Stockpile <br />It is estimated that approximately 6,000 yards of topsoil will be salvaged from the project <br />area slopes. Some of this topsoil will be used to cover the already graded and prepared <br />northeast outslopes of the existing RPE. The remainder (estimated to be less than 5,000 <br />yards) will be stockpiled in a prepared area to the east of the existing RPE and marked <br />with a topsoil stockpile sign. This topsoil will be utilized first over the next year to <br />reclaim the RPE outslopes, rather than first using topsoil that is currently stored in the <br />revegetated North Soil Storage Area to the north of Highway 133. <br />Rev. 06/09- MR356