2012-01-24_PERMIT FILE - M2011054 (4)

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Mitigation will be triggered by negative trends for two successive monitoring periods or sooner as necessary to comply with applicable law or standards within this Plan below. Mitigation Plan If dewatering or other mining or reclamation activities at the Debeque Sand and Gravel Resource site creates injuries to surrounding wells, the applicant will take all necessary actions to remedy the injuries. If water levels are dropping in adjacent wells, such that well owners' historic water production may be injured, the applicant will begin to implement one or more of the following measures. However, if the well has not been put to beneficial use prior to mining, or does not have the legal right to operate, the applicant should have no responsibility to provide mitigation. Mitigation measures may include, but are not limited to: 1. Modify existing wells to operate under lower groundwater conditions. This would include re- drilling existing wells to deeper depths or lowering the pumps. All work would be at the applicant's expense with the exception of replacing equipment that was non - functional prior to mining. 2. If existing wells cannot be repaired, the applicant will drill a new well for the owner to replace the damaged well. The new well will produce water of the same quantity and quality to support historic use. 3. Provide an alternative source of water to support the historic well water use, such as a recharge trench. The operator has secured sufficient water rights, with additional options, to supply any affected resource with water for irrigation. 4. The applicant may institute measures to limit dewatering impacts, including limiting mining cell footprints with further subdivisions of the mining plan, to include cofferdams, backfill, or land bridges within the mining footprint as a means to reduce total area and water volume affected by dewatering. Complete cessation of dewatering or, more likely, wet mining is also an option if conditions warrant other measures to limit dewatering impacts. 5. The applicant may elect to alter the mining footprint, to avoid excavation in sensitive areas, or to increase the buffer between dewatered areas and affected resources. In practice, the above list allows for the operator to make an appropriate determination of the response that will best mitigate the effect to be mitigated. The applicant commits to monitoring groundwater wells for the duration of the mining operation and if additional dewatering is required during the reclamation process.