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Environmental Scientists and Engineers, LLC <br />reclamation and closure <br />• Construction of new access roads, mine facilities, and infrastructure <br />• Construction of an overland conveyor and/or a haul road to the current <br />ColoWyo Mine loadout facility <br />These possible future actions are briefly discussed in Section 2.6 and the potential <br />environmental consequences are discussed in Section 4. The affected environment is <br />described in Section 3. <br />2.4.1 Anticipated Results <br />The prospective mine would supply high - quality coal for utility customers who are <br />currently planning to switch to lower - sulfur fuel to comply with Phase II of the Clean Air <br />Act. The proposed Action Alternative will provide lease acquisition bonus funds to the <br />federal government at the time of the lease sale, followed by production royalties over the <br />life of the mining project. Development of the new mine will help keep existing high - <br />paying jobs, and subsequent coal production will provide employment stability for <br />Moffat and Rio Blanco counties. <br />2.4.2 Surface Coal Mine Construction, Operation and Reclamation <br />Conceptual Description of the Mining Operation <br />Surface coal mining operations, which for the purposes of this EA are considered a <br />reasonably foreseeable future action, would focus on the development and extraction of <br />the coal reserves found in the X, B, C, D, E, F, and G coal seams. These seams are further <br />described in Section 3.3 "Geology and Minerals" of this document. The Collom Tract <br />would be accessed by State Highway 13 to Moffat County Road 51 to Moffat County <br />Road 32 to an upgraded existing West Fork Jubb Creek Road. Detailed geologic and <br />engineering evaluation must be performed before the final plan for coal seam access and <br />development can be determined. <br />The mining plan would include removal of topsoil and overburden (and interburden) to <br />expose the coal seams for mining. The topsoil would be generally removed with scrapers <br />and dozers supported by motor graders and a water truck. Topsoil will be direct - hauled <br />for contemporaneous reclamation or stockpiled for future reclamation. Overburden and <br />interburden will be removed by draglines and/or truck and shovel fleets. Environmental <br />and reclamation management will be according to CCDMG approved permit <br />requirements. <br />Coal transport from the mine to the overland conveyor would likely be by haul truck. <br />Trucks will dump coal directly into a primary coal crusher before the conveyor transports <br />it to the existing rail loadout facility. There will be a small coal stockpile at the truck <br />dump facility to store coal when the conveyor is inoperable or the bin is full. There will <br />be a larger stockpile of crushed coal at the rail loadout. ColoWyo expects to extract <br />approximately 6 million tons of coal per year from the Collom Tract. <br />P PROJF.0 TS CbA.a ■o.6 188' PA Final' II.M -v -EA Collom CIS .1 J.. <br />Ii <br />