Laserfiche WebLink
According to its mining operations plans and associated permits, WFC must build and maintain <br />sedimentation ponds at the bottom of each drainage. These ponds capture and control the water <br />for a specific period of time to allow the sediment to settle. Pond releases are monitored for <br />water quality. As needed, water from the ponds is also pumped for irrigation, augmentation, and <br />to fill trucks for dust suppression. <br />Water uses for the initial mining area were addressed in an augmentation plan decreed in 1988 in <br />Water Court, Case No. 88CW55. The engineering report in that case was prepared for Peabody <br />Coal Company by Geotrans Engineering and Construction Services, Inc. in April 1988 ( "1988 <br />Report"). This report briefly reviews the 1988 Report. However, this is a new augmentation <br />plan covering a new mining area and operations. This report proposes terms and conditions to <br />ensure that depletions associated with present and future mine uses can be augmented and that no <br />injury to the wells and water rights of others will occur. <br />SUMMARY OF WATER RIGHTS OWNED BY WESTERN FUELS <br />WFC owns numerous decreed junior and senior water rights associated with its mining activity. <br />A number of such water rights were adjudicated by Peabody Coal Company and transferred to <br />WFC in 1992 when the mine was purchased. Those rights are summarized in detail in Table 1. <br />This table also describes subsequent court actions associated with these rights. <br />Additional rights sought in 2009CW171 were needed to adjudicate NHN mining area uses and <br />future anticipated uses at Cyprus mining area. The amount and use of each appropriation was <br />determined on review of historical practices and actual recorded diversion at the mine. The mine <br />also made a physical posting at the site of each water right request in early December of 2008. <br />There has not been a formal water rights call on the lower San Miguel River, Calamity Draw or <br />Tuttle Draw in recent history. To date, these areas have been declared as non - overappropriated <br />by the Colorado Division of Water Resources. Therefore, WFC has not had to implement its <br />prior augmentation plan decreed in Case No. 88CW55. <br />CC DITCH SHARES OWNED AND USED BY WESTERN FUELS <br />WFC owns 115 shares in the CC Ditch. This report analyzes two different portions of those <br />shares: the 27 shares changed in Case No. 88CW55 that historically irrigated 74 acres, and an <br />additional 34 shares proposed to be changed under this application. <br />WFC also owns the Kelly Ranch located east of Nucla, which acquisition included 54 shares of <br />the CC Ditch. These shares are still being actively used for irrigation on the ranch, and are not <br />included as part of this report and Augmentation Plan (though such shares could be used by <br />WFC in the future). <br />2 <br />