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2. The Cottonwood/Rapid Creek drainages and adjacent areas which will be undermined by <br />the Roadside mine; and <br />3. The Colorado River Alluvial Valley Floor. <br />Drainages in the North Portal mining area are characterized by steep sided canyons with deeply <br />incised channels, limited areas of alluvial deposition, and no flood irrigated or subirrigated agriculture. <br />Headwaters for these drainages are at relatively low elevations in the Book Cliffs, and the streams <br />exhibit intermittent or ephemeral flow regimes. Insufficient surface water availability and saline soils <br />eliminate Coal Creek, Jerry Creek and their tributaries from alluvial valley floor consideration. <br />Drainages in the bookcliffs with characteristics similar to those in the permit area are not typically <br />developed for irrigated agriculture (OSM, June, 1985 "Reconnaissance Maps to Assist in Identifying <br />Alluvial Valley Floors, West - Central Colorado "). <br />Potential AVF areas within and adjacent to the permit area are addressed below. See Tab 21 of the <br />application for further information. <br />Facilities Area <br />The permittee identified approximately 500 acres of land within the reconnaissance study area that <br />meet the geomorphic criteria for alluvial valley floors. This land is located adjacent to the Colorado <br />River. The permittee noted, on Exhibit 33 of the application, that a portion of this land is subirrigated <br />and a portion was historically flood irrigated. <br />The permittee has demonstrated that a large portion of the alluvial valley floor meets the requirement <br />for a "grandfathering" exemption. The Colorado Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act of 1979 <br />allows an exemption from interrupting, precluding, or discontinuing farming and from effects on the <br />quantity and quality of water supplying the alluvial valley floor, if, in the year preceding August 3, <br />1977, the surface coal mining operations either produced coal in commercial quantities and were <br />located within or adjacent to an alluvial valley floor, or had obtained permit approval to conduct <br />surface coal mining operations within an alluvial valley floor. <br />The geographic extent of the exemption is limited to the actual extent of mine workings as of August <br />3, 1977, and adjacent lands for which there existed (at that time) substantial demonstrable financial or <br />regulatory commitment to mine in the future, as required by Rule 2.06.8(5)(a)(i)(B) in the Regulations <br />of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board for Coal Mining. <br />The permittee provided copies of permits for the Roadside and Cameo Mines, which were obtained in <br />December 1976 and January 1977. Therefore, those lands permitted are eligible for the "grandfather" <br />exemption. These lands include those portions of the permit area within Sections 27, 28, 33 and 34, <br />TiOS, R98W. This area includes the entire affected alluvial valley floor, with the exception of that <br />portion in Section 26. However, that portion of Section 26 within the permit area as noted in Exhibit <br />33 was disturbed as part of construction of the unit train loadout prior to August 3, 1977, and therefore <br />is eligible for the "grandfathering" exemption. <br />Alluvial Valley Floor — Findings (Facilities Area) <br />Those portions of the permit area within Sections 26, 27, 28, 33 and 34 are exempt from the <br />requirements that prevent an operation from interrupting, discontinuing, or precluding farming, and <br />from affecting the quantity and quality of water supplying the alluvial valley floor (4.24.3(4)). <br />Permit Revision No. 5 52 July 10, 2012 <br />