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Denver Field Branch
<br />Bond Release Evaluation Report
<br />Company:
<br />Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc
<br />Mine:
<br />Colowyo Mine
<br />Permit No:
<br />C-1981-019
<br />Date of Inspection:
<br />September 7, 2016
<br />Weather:
<br />Hot and sunny with dry ground
<br />Company Officials:
<br />Angela Aalbers, Kurtis Blunt, and Tony Tennyson
<br />State Officials:
<br />Janet Binns and Zach Trujillo
<br />BLM Official:
<br />None present
<br />OSMRE Official:
<br />Tom Medlin (#562)
<br />Background
<br />This was a Phase III bond release evaluation at the 27,521.24 acre Colowyo Mine in Meeker, Colorado. Tri-
<br />State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc (Tri-State) proposes Phase III release on 202.4 acres of
<br />reclamation in the East and West Pits where it indicates backfilling, regrading, drainage control, topsoil
<br />placement, and revegetation in support of the post -mining land use (PMLU [rangeland]) have been completed in
<br />accordance with the terms of its approved permit. The Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety
<br />(DRMS) found Tri-States's SL -10 bond release application administratively complete on July 28, 2016.
<br />The legal description of the lands proposed for release is as follows: Township 3 North, Range 93 West of the
<br />6th PM, Section 3 NW 1/4, SE '/4, SW '/4, NE '/4; Section 4 NW '/4, SE '/4, NE '/4, NW '/a; Section 10 SE '/4, NW '/4,
<br />E %2; Section 11 SW 1/4, W %2, County of Moffat, State of Colorado. Notification of the proposed bond release
<br />was posted in the Rio Blanco Herald Times for four consecutive weeks beginning June 23, 2016 and ending
<br />July 14, 2016 as well as the Craig Daily Press beginning June 24, 2016 and ending July 15, 2016. Initial
<br />reclamation was performed between 2000 and 2003. Tri-State currently holds a self -bond for $80,517,829
<br />which covers the entire mine site, including the subject parcel. With this Phase III application, Tri-State
<br />requests release of the entire remaining bond liability for the 202.4 acres described above, which equals
<br />$140,224.00.
<br />Colorado outlines requirements for bond release at 3.03.1 of the Regulations for the Colorado Mined Land
<br />Reclamation Board. In order to attain Phase III bond release, the operator must complete all surface coal mining
<br />reclamation operations in accordance with the approved reclamation plan. When a valid mining permit remains
<br />in place, the operator may not receive final Phase III bond release prior to the expiration of a ten-year
<br />revegetation responsibility period. According to the SL -10- bond release application, revegetation sampling was
<br />conducted by Cedar Creek Associates, Inc. (Cedar Creek) in 2013 and 2014 using the transect method for cover
<br />and woody -stem sampling and the quadrat method for herbaceous production sampling. The Colowyo Mine
<br />utilizes vegetation reference areas as the benchmark for revegetative success. For SL -10, applicable reference
<br />areas included Mountain Shrub and Sagebrush. Cedar Creek's analysis indicates standards for cover,
<br />production, diversity, and woody -species density counts were all exceeded in their 2013 and 2014 samplings of
<br />the East and West Pits.
<br />The OSMRE and DRMS Team (the Team) met with operator representatives Ms. Aalbers, Mr. Blunt, and Mr.
<br />Tennyson to briefly review the requirements for Phase III bond release and history of the reclaimed parcel
<br />before embarking on the field evaluation.
<br />Findings and observations
<br />The Team evaluated 202.4 reclaimed acres, broken into 12 areas within the East Pit (EP) and West Pit (WP) for
<br />Phase III bond release, identified as follows: EP036; EP037; EP038; EP039; EP040; EP041; EP042; EP043;
<br />EP044; WP008; WP009; and WP011. Gulch A Ditch is located adjacent to several of the reclaimed areas within
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