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ii i iiiiiiiiiiiu iii 999 PEABODY COAL COMPANY ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION 10!76 EAST NARVARD AVENUE SUITE A00 DENVER, COLORADO B03l1 (1031 !l7~8909 March 26, 1985 ,~ Mr. Hal Simpson Assistant State Engineer I Office of the State Engineer I' Division of Water Resources 1313 Sherman Street, Room 818 Denver, CO 80203 Dear Mr. Simpson: Last week, Mr. Jim McDanold of your Division and I discussed over the phone your memo dated March I, 1985 to Ms. Anne C. Baldrige of the Mined Land Reclamation Division (MLRD) regarding Peabody Coal Company's plans to drill a shop well at the Seneca II-W Mine. You state in your memo that "Since Dry Creek and Sage Creek are considered over appropriated, the well permit will be denied". After discussion with Mr. McDonald about the well depth, well design, and the geology of the Dry and Sage Creek environs, he, in consultation with one of your staff geologists, indicated that there was a good likelihood that the Trout Creek Sandstone Member of the Iles Formation (the aquifer in which the well will be completed) is not tributary to Dry or Sage Creek. For this reason, he stated that a well permit might be issued by your office without any delays. Please find attached the permit application for the Seneca Il-W Mine shop well. As substantiation to our opinion that the Trout Creek Sandstone is not tributary to Dry or Sage Creek and that the outcrop of the Trout Creek Sandstone in these drainages is, in fact, a recharge area for the aquifer, I have supplied the following information with this letter: I. Geologic map of part of Routt and Moffat Counties. Indicated on this map are the location of the shop well, the Seneca II-bV mine permit boundary, the Dry and Sage Creek drainage areas and the outcrop of the Trout Creek Sandstone. Superimposed over the geology are the structure contours (feet above mean sea level) drawn on top of the Trout Creek Sandstone. As is apparent from the map, The Trout Creek Sandstone generally outcrops along Topographic highs which also mimic the structural highs. The Trout Creek Sandstone is exposed along the eastern margin of the permit area and locally dips nine (9) degrees to the southwest. Regionally, the aquifer dips to the north and west. 2. Stratigraphic column of the geology in the Seneca II-W Mine area. As indicated from the attached figure, the Trout Creek Sandstone lies approximately 500 feet sTratigraphically below the Wadge coal, the lowest coal seam to be mined at the Seneca II-W Mine and is confined by numerous beds of shales and silty shales. As a result, the Trout Creek Sandstone is not hydraulically connected to any of the strata to be mined and is generally isolated from the Dry and Sage Creek drainages.