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II. CRITERIA AND SCHEDULE FOR BOND RELEASE <br />PHASE I <br />Rule 3.03.1(2)(a) states, "Up to sixty percent of the applicable bond amount shall be released when the <br />permittee successfully completes backfilling, regrading, and drainage control in accordance with the <br />approved reclamation plan." With regard to this SL -6 Phase I bond release, BRL had initially requested <br />an incidental amount of acreage associated with 26 drillhole pads. However, during the bond release <br />inspection drill pad 2011-1 was removed from consideration. Six ponds at the Bowie No. 1 Mine totaling <br />3.28 acres, were initially requested under the Phase II request. During the bond release inspection, the six <br />ponds (Binwall Ponds 1 through 4, the Gob Pile Pond and the ROM Pile Pond) were changed to be <br />included and inspected for Phase I. <br />Twenty five drillhole pads were inspected for the backfill and grading requirements of Phase I. Twenty <br />three of the twenty five drill holes inspected were constructed before the enactment of SMCRA. Therefore <br />the drill pads are exempt from those requirements. BV -1 and BV -2 were sealed and reclaimed in 2008; <br />therefore, the two pads associated with BV -1 and BV -2 were inspected for backfilling, grading, and <br />drainage re-establishment. The pads were graded to resemble the surrounding topography and ensure that <br />no water would pond on the site. <br />The six ponds requested for Phase I bond release were; Binwall Pond 1, Binwall Pond 2, Binwall Pond 3, <br />Binwall Pond 4, the Gob Pile Pond and the ROM Pile Pond. Reclamation activities conducted at the six <br />ponds included backfilling and grading to approximate original contour. The ponds were graded to the <br />final contours approved in the C-1981-038 Permit Application. The drainage the binwall ponds were <br />located in were graded to approximate the surrounding natural drainage. <br />PHASE II <br />Rule 3.03.1(2)(b) states, "Up to eighty-five percent of the applicable bond amount shall be released upon <br />the establishment of vegetation which supports the approved postmining land use and which meets the <br />approved success standard for cover... based on statistically valid data collected during a single year of the <br />liability period". In regard to Phase II bond release, Rule 3.03.2(3)(b) also states, " No more than sixty <br />(60) percent of the bond shall be released so long as the lands to which the release would be applicable are <br />contributing suspended solids to streamflow or runoff outside the permit area in excess of premining <br />levels as determined by baseline data or in excess of levels determined on adjacent nonmined areas". <br />With regard to this SL -6 partial Phase II bond release, the approved reclamation plan calls for the <br />revegetation of the East Mine to the standards outlined in Volume 9A, Vegetation -Part 2. Due to the East <br />Mine being disturbed before the enactment of SMCRA the success standardunder Rule 4.15.11(2)(a) does <br />not apply. The East Mine was visually inspected for the success standard outlined in the Permit <br />Application. Due to the disturbance occurring before SMCRA there are no set standards for topsoil depths; <br />therefore, the East Mine topsoil depths were not measured. <br />Permit Number C-1981-038 Page 5 of 11 <br />