2010-12-17_REVISION - C1981019 (153)

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Surface water 4.7 Jurisdictional waters 4.7.1 General 35 Jurisdictional waters are protected from environmental degradation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Jurisdictional waters include both wetlands and Waters of the US, as defined in Part 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 230.3 and Part 33 CFR Section 328.3. Jurisdictional waters may occur in three principal settings: seeps and springs where local areas of saturated soils or standing water support wetland vegetation, water which flows in a defined channel, and the adjacent fringe of wetland areas that boarder stream channels, also called the "hydric fringe ". Two studies have been identified that addressed jurisdictional waters within the general Collom area: • Colowyo Alluvial Valley Floor (AVF) Analysis Report, Dames & Moore C (D &M), December, 1995, and • Kennecott Energy Colowyo Coal Company L.P. Jurisdictional Waters Report, JBR Environmental Consultants Inc., September 1998. The review of these surveys mainly focused on whether or not the areas covered by the surveys appear to be adequate within the Collom study area, and whether jurisdictional waters occur in the proposed mine area. 4.7.2 Dames and Moore study The 1995 D &M report was an update to an earlier D &M AVF study conducted in 1980. During the reevaluation of the AVFs, D &M mentions that "during the field investigation jurisdictional wetlands which met the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1987) guidelines were noted on project maps. The survey of wetlands should be considered preliminary and a more comprehensive analysis would be required as part of a mine permit." In addition to AVFs, springs, seeps and ponds that may be considered jurisdictional waters were located on the project map. The area covered by the 1995 D &M study includes the proposed footprint of the Collom Mine. This report does not represent a usable document from a jurisdictional waters regulatory prospective due to its preliminary status and its lack of detailed evaluation. • 2572 -R2 Colowyo Coal Company Water Management Consultants