2020-07-21_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981019

• Permit No: C1981019
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 7/21/2020
• Doc Name: Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance
• Type & Sequence: SL18
• Email Name: ZTT
• Email Name: JDM
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

SL-18 Partial Phase I Bond Release Application
The SL-18 application was received by the Division on March 20, 2020 and deemed complete on
May 1,2020. Colowyo published notice of the bond release application in the Craig Daily Press
once weekly for four consecutive weeks, beginning April 8,2020 and ending on April 29,2020.
Colowyo notified land owners within and adjacent to the mine permit area,the Office of Surface
Mining(OSM),the BLM, Colorado State Land Board(CSLB) and other interested parties of the
application for bond release, as required by Rule 3.03.2(1). No comments,written objections or
requests for an informal conference regarding the bond release application were received by the
Division.
A bond release inspection was scheduled and conducted on June 4, 2020. The site inspection was
conducted in accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2). Inspection attendees included: Zach Trujillo of the
Division, Jennifer Maiolo of BLM,Tony Tennyson of Tri-State Generation and Transmission
Association,Inc. (Tri-State), and Tom Fry of Colowyo. No representatives from the CLSB, other
State or local agencies, or adjacent land owners attended the inspection. A summary of the bond
release inspection is presented in Section IV, of this document. Detailed observations of the
inspection are documented in the inspection report that was issued June 5,2020. See Figure 1 of
this document for the location of the SL-18 partial Phase I Bond Release area.
III. CRITERIA FOR BOND RELEASE
Phase I Bond Release
The Division evaluated Colowyo's request for partial Phase I Bond Release on 44.6 acres of the
West Pit in the SL-18 application, as shown on Figure 1 of this document. The process of releasing
the reclamation bond for a coal mine site in Colorado is explained in Rule 3.03 and further
described in the Division's 1995 Guideline Regarding Selected Coal Mining Bond Release Issues.
The bond release process involves three phases. At Phase I,Rule 3.03.1(2) (a) states, "Up to sixty
percent of the applicable bond amount shall be released when the permittee successfully completes
backfilling,regrading, and drainage control in accordance with the approved reclamation plan."
Evaluation and inspection of the reclaimed areas was based on the specific requirements of the
reclamation plan and the functional requirements of the post-mining land use. Criteria for Phase I
bond release includes all or part of the following.
I. Hillslope and drainage channel gradients and general design compliance;
2. Performance of the reconstructed topography. Symptoms of failure or instabilities such as
slumping or exposed highwalls were examined;
3. Hillslope design/function with regard to erosion;
4. Swales and depressions with regard to numbers of features and effect on post-mining land
use;
5. Blending of regraded land to undisturbed areas;
Proposed Decision and Findings of Compliance July 21,2020
Partial Phase I Bond Release SL-18 Page 4