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L PROCEDURES AND SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW PROCESS
<br />Reclamation History of Bond Release Area
<br />The total permit area of the Peabody Sage Creek Mine is presently 10,164 acres, of which 1,766.39 acres
<br />were previously disturbed by, and portions reclaimed by, Seneca Coal Company (SCC) under the
<br />Seneca II Mine (CDRMS permit C -1980 -005). The total disturbed acreage of the Peabody Sage Creek
<br />Mine approved to be disturbed by PSCM is 1,912.80 acres including the previously disturbed portions.
<br />The Division has processed five previous bond release applications for the Seneca II Mine (SL -1, SL -2,
<br />SL -3, SL-4, SL -5, and SL -6), with four (SL -1, SL -2, SL -3, SL -4) having been associated with disturbed
<br />areas that presently exist within the current Peabody Sage Creek Mine permit.
<br />SCC bond release application SL -01 for the Seneca II Mine was submitted May 24, 2006 and found
<br />complete on July 18, 2006. At the time of the SL -01 submittal, Seneca II Mine consisted of 1,968.8
<br />acres of interim and permanent program disturbed acres and 326.5 pre -law disturbed acres for a total of
<br />2295.3 disturbed acres. Bond release SL -01 requested Phase I bond release on 2,054.5 disturbed acres,
<br />which were composed of 259.1 acres of pre -law lands and 1,795.4 acres of interim and permanent
<br />program lands. The Division approved the Phase I bond release on December 27, 2006.
<br />SCC bond release application SL -02 for the Seneca II Mine was submitted June 27, 2007 and found
<br />complete on August 15, 2007. Bond release SL -02 requested Phase IIAII bond release on 259.1
<br />reclaimed acres of pre -law lands within the permit area. SL -02 was approved on November 29, 2007 for
<br />257.71 acres. It was determined that Bond issued by the National Fire Insurance Company of
<br />Hartford for Permit No. in the amount of $1,355,000.00, was dedicated solely to the pre -law
<br />lands. Based on reclamation cost assessments performed in association with SL -01 and SL -02, the
<br />Division determined that reclamation liability associated with pre -law lands (68.79 acres) that were not
<br />the subject of SL -02 was $285,484.00. Thus, the Division approved SL -02 in the amount of
<br />$1,069,516.00 from Bond No.
<br />SCC submitted an application for a Phase II bond release, SL -03 for the Seneca II Mine that was
<br />received by the Division on May 19, 2008 and found complete on June 18, 2008. SCC initially
<br />requested Phase II release on 1,793.5 acres of permanent program land. The reclaimed lands were
<br />divided into separate bond release blocks (BRB). Each BRB included multiple reclamation parcels.
<br />Within a particular reclaimed block, parcels were reclaimed with relatively consistent techniques and
<br />seed mixes. Permanent program lands included 902 acres in BRB -3, 577.7 acres in BRB -4, and 2.7
<br />acres in BRB -5. No pre -law lands were included in SL -3. The SL -3 bond release request was limited to
<br />those portions of the permanent program lands that were previously granted Phase I release under SL -01.
<br />During the review process, SCC withdrew the 577.7 -acre BRB -4 and the 2.7 -acre portion of BRB -5
<br />from the SL -03 application. On April 1, 2009, the Division approved Phase II reclamation liability
<br />release on 1213.1 acres (311.1 acres of interim program land in BRB -2 and 902 acres of permanent
<br />program land in BRB -3). The Division approved a liability release of $1,975,695.00 with the approval
<br />of SL -3.
<br />SCC submitted an application, SL -04 for the Seneca II Mine, for a Phase I bond release on October
<br />15, 2008. This application was found complete on December 1, 2008. The application requested
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