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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Do I have an alluvial valley floor

Conference · · Univ. Ky., Off. Eng. Serv., (Bull.); (United States)
OSTI ID:5407355
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 establishes specific restrictions for coal mining on or adjacent to alluvial valley floors. Alluvial valley floors are lands in the Western United States where water availability for flood irrigation or subirrigation provides enhanced agricultural productivity on stream-laid deposits located in valley bottoms. Alluvial valley floors may consist of developed land or undeveloped rangeland. Developed land, if of sufficient size to be important to a farming operation, cannot be mined whereas undeveloped rangeland can be mined provided certain performance standards are met. Developed land is important to farming when the percentage loss of production by removal of the alluvial valley floor from a farm(s) total production exceeds the equation P = 3 + 0.0014X, where P is the maximum percentage loss of productivity considered to be a negligible impact to a Wyoming farming operation and X is the number of animal units of total farm production above 100. A threshold level of 10 percent is placed on P, above which such a loss is considered to be a significant loss to any size farming operation.
Research Organization:
Dept. of Environmental Quality, Cheyenne, WY
OSTI ID:
5407355
Report Number(s):
CONF-801263-
Conference Information:
Journal Name: Univ. Ky., Off. Eng. Serv., (Bull.); (United States)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English