006, Pond 009, Pond 015, Pond 016, and Pond 017, though per Stipulation No. 39, Ponds 006,
<br />016, and 017, as well as Stock Tank T-22, require approval for permanent retention form the
<br />Colorado State Engineer's Office.
<br />Summary
<br />The Review Process RN -6
<br />On 2015, the Division notified Seneca Coal Company that its permit for the Seneca II -W Mine
<br />would expire on December 31, 2015. On July 2, 2015, Seneca Coal Company submitted an
<br />application for successive renewal of Permit C1982-057 for the Seneca II -W Mine. The
<br />application, designated Permit Renewal No. 6 (RN -6), was deemed complete for purposes of filing
<br />on July 10, 2017, and completeness notifications were sent to Town of Hayden, Upper Yampa
<br />Water Conservation District, Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Division of Water Resources,
<br />U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of Surface Mining, Routt County Commissioners, Routt
<br />County Planning Department, BLM Little Snake Field Office, Water Quality Control Division,
<br />State Land Board, NRCS Steamboat Springs Field Office, Air Pollution Control Division,
<br />Colorado Geological Survey, Colorado Division of Wildlife, State Historic Preservation Office,
<br />U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, and permit area landowner Theresa Friederich-Takasugi. A public
<br />notice of the application was published in the Steamboat Pilot once a week for four consecutive
<br />weeks beginning July 11, 2010 and ending August 1, 2010. There were no comments regarding
<br />this permit renewal received by the Division as a result of the published public notice.
<br />Two comment letters were received during the review. The State Historic Preservation Officer
<br />(SHPO) commented in a letter of August 6, 2015 that, because the application would not result in
<br />additional land disturbance, there would be no effect on historic properties. The Colorado
<br />Division of Parks and Wildlife commented in a letter dated, August 7, 2015, that since the mine
<br />is reclaimed and activities are reclamation oriented, CPW had no concerns.
<br />The Division reviewed the permit renewal application and identified nine adequacy issues or
<br />concerns with the renewal of the permit. The operator was notified of the adequacy concerns on
<br />March 9, 2016. SP provided response to the Division regarding the adequacy concerns on
<br />December 13, 2016. Review of the operator's December 13, 2016 response resulted in one
<br />additional adequacy concern, as stated in the Division's second adequacy letter on January 5,
<br />2017. SP provided adequate responses to all of the Divisions adequacy concerns on January 24,
<br />2017.
<br />The Division queried the Applicant Violator System (AVS) on several occasions during the RN -
<br />5 review, and there were no violations listed; the recommendation based on the AVS checks was
<br />"approve". The dates of the Division's query of the AVS were July 31, 2015 and February 6,
<br />2017.
<br />The cost estimate for bond liability has been revised as a result of this renewal application. The
<br />calculated liability for the Seneca II -W Mine is $3,790,697.28. The Division holds a surety bond
<br />in the amount of $5,818,456.00. SP has requested that the excess surety bond over the estimated
<br />$3,790,697.28 remaining reclamation liability be returned to Seneca Property LLC. This return
<br />vi
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