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Case 16-42529 Doc 1478 Filed 10/24/16 Entered 10/24/16 20:24:17 Main Document <br />Pg 18 of 99 <br />Stat. Ann. 720/8.07(e) (West 1980) (same); Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 34-32-124(6)(a) (West 1993) <br />(same). <br />39. The Debtors' efforts to fulfi14 reclamation and other environmental compliance <br />obligations could be frustrated, however, if counterparties to any Rejected Leases were to deny <br />the Debtors access to premises formerly leased by the Debtors for the purpose of undertaking <br />reclamation and other environmental compliance activities. 13 Accordingly, the Debtors request <br />that the Court grant the Debtors (including their employees, agents and contractors) reasonable <br />access to the premises related to the Rejected Leases for the limited purpose of allowing the <br />Debtors to fulfill any reclamation and other environmental compliance obligations, 14 <br />The Debtors request that such access be granted, in each case, pursuant to the terms of customary <br />and commercially reasonable access agreements — providing for, among other things, reasonable <br />terms of access, hours of access and indemnity provisions — to be negotiated by the Debtors and <br />13 Some courts and administrative bodies have held that a mine operator retains its statutory obligation to <br />perform reclamation irrespective of whether the operator maintains a contractual right to access the <br />property following the cessation of mining operations thereon. See, e.g., Quality Ready Mix, Inc. v. <br />Mamone, 520 N.E.2d 193, 197-98 (Ohio 1988) (holding that an operator's lack of contractual access rights <br />to a property formerly mined by the operator did not relieve the operator of its state law obligation to <br />reclaim the mine site; stating that "[t]he duty of [the operator] to reclaim the property ... is not a contractual <br />one, but one arising from statute"); U.S. Dep't of Interior, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and <br />Enforcement, Coalex State Inquiry Report — 100 (July 24, 1989), available at <br />www.osmre.gov/resources/coalex.shtm (collecting administrative decisions of the U.S. Office of Surface <br />Mining Reclamation and Enforcement holding that operators of surface mines retained the obligation to <br />complete their reclamation obligations under SMCRA notwithstanding the operators' lack of contractual <br />access rights to the respective properties). <br />14 Should the Court not enter an order affirmatively granting the Debtors access to premises related to the <br />Rejected Leases for the purpose of fulfilling any reclamation and other environmental compliance <br />obligations, alternatively, the Debtors request that the Court enter an order finding that, in the event that the <br />Debtors are denied access to any premises related to the Rejected Leases for the purpose of undertaking <br />reclamation and other environmental compliance activities, the Debtors shall not be in violation of SMCRA, <br />the Clean Water Act, any federal and state regulations related to, and any state analogues of, such statutes <br />or any other similar law or regulation requiring the Debtors to undertake reclamation and/or other <br />environmental compliance activities on such premises. <br />NAI -1502082594v7 18 <br />