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Elk Creek Mine (C-1981-022) MT-8 <br /> seeded with the approved seed mixture and mulched at the rate of 4,000 pounds of straw per acre. <br /> Straw will be crimped along the contour. <br /> Somerset Mining Company, now OMLLC, conducted a detailed soil survey and vegetation survey of <br /> the areas to be affected by development of the Sanborn Creek portals, haul road and conveyor <br /> facilities. These surveys indicated that approximately 8,850 cubic yards of soil could be salvaged from <br /> these areas and that vegetation in the portal area and along the conveyor/haul road corridor was <br /> substantially the same as the surrounding vegetative types. Soil salvaged from these areas will be <br /> used for reclamation activities. <br /> U.S. Steel conducted a vegetation survey of unaffected land adjacent to the surface disturbed areas <br /> for the purpose of developing a reclamation plan for the surface disturbed area. A native seed mix <br /> has been approved which is representative of the adjacent unaffected lands. The surface will be <br /> returned to rangeland and wildlife habitat which is the present status of adjacent lands and the pre <br /> mining land use of the disturbed area. <br /> In 2005, OMLLC commissioned two new Block Clearances for the Elk Creek and Sanborn Creek Mines: <br /> a Class III Cultural Resource Inventory and a Biological Project (wildlife and habitat survey for <br /> Threatened, Endangered and Sensitive Species and Management Indicator Species). These studies <br /> may be found in Exhibit 2.04-E7 (Vol. 8 of the PAP). <br /> Detailed Review of the Reclamation Plan <br /> Specific details of the reclamation plan are given in section 2.05.4 of the PAP, under headings related <br /> to the area in question. This description begins on Page 2.05-51 and ends on Page 2.05-67. Since <br /> OMLLC has completed a great deal of reclamation work on the site and is now in the process of going <br /> through a series of bond release applications, this section of the PAP is reviewed in detail in items (a) <br /> through (1) below, using the headings and sequence that are given in the PAP, with the aim of <br /> providing a review of the current reclamation status of the site, a basis for a revised Reclamation Cost <br /> Estimate (RCE) and guidance for future bond release applications. <br /> In general, the Division interprets the Act and the Rules to mean that a task related to the <br /> reclamation of a structure or facility that has actually been constructed may be removed from the <br /> RCE only when the parcel of land to which the task pertains goes through a formal process of bond <br /> release. In practice this means that: <br /> i. Structures or facilities that have been bonded for will continue to be bonded for, even when <br /> they have been removed, until the parcel of land that they were situated on has been <br /> reclaimed and achieved Phase I bond release; <br /> ii. Structures or facilities (including graded areas) that have been approved as permanent on the <br /> basis of an alternative post-mining land use will continue to be bonded for until it can be <br /> demonstrated that they actively support that alternative post-mining land use, and the parcel <br /> of land has achieved Phase I, II and III bond release; <br /> Page 12 of 22 <br />