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Partial Phase I Bond Release SL -07 was received on 1 May 2014 and requested a release of 19.23 <br />acres. The release included the plugging and abandonment of 22 drill holes, the backfilling and <br />regrading of 22 drill pads and the backfilling and regrading of the associated light -use roads and <br />road spurs. The release also included the Partial Phase I Release of the Monument Dam Borrow <br />Area. The Division issued its proposed decision to approve the Partial Phase I Bond Release SL -07 <br />on 13 April 2015 and released $97,871.00 <br />The Division received MCC's SL -08 application for a Partial Phase I Bond Release on 18 May <br />2015. The application was deemed incomplete on 26 May 2015 and deemed complete on 7 July <br />2015, after receiving a copy of the affidavit of publication of West Elk's SL -08 legal notice. The <br />legal notice was published four times in the Delta County Independent (on 3, 10, 17 and 24 June <br />2015). The Division conducted a bond release inspection on 22 July 2015. The site inspection was <br />conducted in accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2), in response to the operator's filing of the complete <br />Partial Phase I Bond Release application SL -08. Lands included in the bond release area were <br />federally owned. The coal mined in the bond release area was also federally owned. Persons <br />present during the bond release inspection included: Jim Stark representing the Division, Weston <br />Norris, Kathy Welt and Jessica Loveland representing MCC, Howard Strand representing the Office <br />of Surface Mining (OSM), Desty Dyer representing the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) <br />and Dan Gray and Rachael Landham representing the US Forest Service (USFS). Letters notifying <br />surface owners and adjacent landowners of the inspection were also mailed but no private <br />landowners attended the inspection. <br />II. CRITERIA AND SCHEDULE FOR BOND RELEASE <br />PHASE I <br />The Division evaluated West Elk's application for a partial Phase I Bond Release on 10.05 acres, <br />requested in the SL -08 application. Under Colorado's Permanent Program, the process of releasing <br />the reclamation bond for a mine site is explained in Rule 3.03 and further described in the Division's <br />1995 Guideline Regarding Selected Coal Mining Bond Release Issues. The bond release process <br />involves three phases. At Phase I, Rule 3.03.1(2) (a) states, "Up to sixty percent of the applicable <br />bond amount shall be released when the permittee successfully completes backfilling, regrading, and <br />drainage control in accordance with the approved reclamation plan." The Phase I Bond Release is <br />the only phase of bond release applicable to the SL -08 application. <br />Evaluation and inspection of the reclaimed areas was based on the specific requirements of the <br />reclamation plan and the functional requirements of the post -mining land use. Criteria for Phase I <br />Bond Release included the following (if applicable). <br />1. Hillslope and drainage channel gradients and general design compliance; <br />2. Performance of the reconstructed topography. Symptoms of failure or instabilities such as <br />slumping or exposed highwalls were examined; <br />West Elk Mine 4 20 November 2015 <br />Partial Phase I Bond Release SL -08 Findings <br />