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Page 9 <br />that the ponds do not collect significant sediment and they never discharge, due to the flat topography <br />and sandy soils of the site. The Division is confident that these ponds will not cause future problems, <br />and no maintenance provisions are needed. <br /> <br />IV. PROPOSED DECISION <br /> <br />Based on the observations above, the Division proposes to approve Coors Energy Company's request for <br />a Phase II and Phase III bond release for the Keenesburg Strip Mine. This proposed decision is for a <br />Phase II bond release of 9.68 acres for Area 30 and a Phase III bond release of 30.55 acres for Areas 23, <br />29, 30, and 31. These areas are depicted on the map submitted with the SL-12 application, also included <br />above (in Figure 1). This proposed decision will release CEC from all reclamation liability on 30.55 <br />acres. <br /> <br />The current reclamation liability amount set for the site is $818,406.00 (from SL-11, approved on <br />December 1, 2022). The current bond held is slightly more than this amount ($818,446.00). The <br />midterm review conducted in 2024 identified the need to increase the required bond amount to <br />$861,855.00. The Division decided to not increase the required surety pending this bond release <br />application. <br /> <br />To estimate the liability eligible for release with the approval of the SL-12 application, the site-wide cost <br />estimate was updated with the most recent unit costs, and the reclamation tasks associated with seeding <br />the SL-12 bond release parcels were removed from the estimate. The new reclamation liability is <br />$687,020.00. Enclosed is the summary of reclamation costs. <br /> <br />With the approval of SL-12, the Division will release $131,386.00 (which is the difference between <br />the current required bond amount of $818,406.00 and the new required bond amount of $687,020.00). <br />The current bond is sufficient to assure completion of the remaining reclamation work at the site if the <br />work had to be performed by the Division, including the cost of reestablishing vegetation on any <br />revegetated areas, should those areas fail. <br />