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<br />April 22, 2003 <br />Eastside Coal Company <br />1098 County Road 214 <br />Silt, CO 81652 <br />Eastside Mine <br />Joint, complete oversight inspection <br />April 15, 2003 <br />Participants: <br />Byron Walker, Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG) <br />Henry Austin, Office of Surface Mining (OSM) <br />I participated in the above inspection on April 15, 2003. The joint DMGlOSM Oversight <br />Team selected this site for a complete inspection during 2003. Reclamation success was a <br />primazy focus of this inspection. Weather conditions included rain during the inspection, <br />with muddy ground conditions. It did not rain hazd enough for significant surface water <br />runoff. <br />We walked all the reclaimed azeas (6 acres total) including the proposed coal refuse <br />storage area that was undisturbed, with the exception of two drill holes (soils engineering <br />analysis). The drill holes have been reclaimed and are stable. No problems noted on this <br />area, some pre-law coal debris is evident in this historically mined area, and some AML <br />remediation work has been done here. <br />The portal area backf711 is stable, and the mine has secured Phase II bond release on <br />August 31, 2001. Surface areas are also stable with little erosion noted. The diversions to <br />the sediment pond and the pond itself were reclaimed during 2002. These areas are stable <br />and replaced soils were left in a roughened condition to reduce erosion potential. The <br />2002 reclaimed azeas have been hydromulched and seeded, and initial seed germination <br />is beginning. No problems noted with the 2002 reclamation. <br />The drainage pipe through the portal backfill was not discharging, it has a check valve <br />installed. We discussed the backfil] design with respect to whether the discharge pipe is <br />intended to be a permanent feature. Mr. Walker will research this. I do not think there has <br />been a historic discharge, or any dischazge, since the 1995 backfilling of the portal area. <br />No offsite impacts were noted during the inspection. This concluded the field inspection. <br />