How will the Project protect water quality and quantity?

Efforts to minimize impacts to stream flows include:
- The Project would generate dewatered tailings so that process water would be recovered rather than being deposited with tailings
- The Project’s primary source of processing water will be industrial runoff
- The Project’s backup source of processing water will be from an off channel reservoir next to Grave Creek. This type of reservoir allows water to be withdrawn from the creek during peak flows and avoid taking water during low flow conditions.
- Having the two sources of water would allow the Project to balance water withdrawals across the two drainage systems to reduce impacts during low flow conditions
Efforts to minimize impacts to water quality include:
- Source control to keep chemicals leaching out of the mine rock that is moved to access the coal:
  - Mine rock would be stored in-pit as much as practicable
  - All other mine rock would be stored in a bottom-up layer-cake style facility designed for source control
  - The dewatered tailings and plant rejects would be used as part of source control within the mine rock storage facility
- Settling ponds to remove sediment from runoff at the processing plant, mine pits and mine rock storage area (Alexander Creek drainage):
  - A main settling pond would be constructed down stream of the mine site. It would be the final point of capture, release, and compliance
  - Interim ponds would be constructed to capture specific areas and pre-treat water before it reports to the main settling pond
- Runoff management at the Rail Load Out (within the Elk River valley) would include:
  - The clean coal would be stored in a covered structure virtually eliminating the potential of coal impacted runoff from that site.
  - Drainage from the RLO will be directed to a permeable pond
Runoff management would also occur at the explosive storage area and clean coal transfer site in the Grave Creek drainage.