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III. COMMENTS -COMPLIANCE Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of observations made during the inspection. Comments also describe any enforcement actions taken during the inspection and the facts or evidence supporting the enforcement action. This was a complete inspection of the Sunlight Mine conducted by Erica Crosby of DMG. The mine is a bond forfeiture site, therefore, no company representative was present during the inspection. Weather conditions on site were overcast and warm. It was slightly raining during the inspection Ground conditions were wet. Roads The upper road continues to be blocked by a small berm located at the entrance of the road and appears to be obstructing vehicles from gaining access on the bench. The lower road is well vegetated and access is limited. Hydrologic Balance The upland diversion ditch breach near the road has not progressed since• the last inspection. It appears that runoff from the recent rains is flowing down the breach and along the access road. Sediment has accumulated on the lower bench of the road, roughly 50 feet south of the intake portal. The gullies down the slope are roughly 1 foot to 2 feet deep through shale and sandstone rock. Little vegetation is in place to stabilize the slope. The upper portion of the ditch is generally in good repair. The sediment pond was full of sediment, roughtly 1.5 feet from the principal spillway. Water was noted in the pond, but was not discharging from the primary spillway. The berm at the lower fan area was intact. Backfilling & Grading The backfilled portals and fan appear stable. No subsidence features were noted. Processing Waste A few of the timbers on the east end of the pile were deposited in the road ditch, most likely due to the summer rain storms. Refuse material continues to be washed through the timbers and collected in the road ditch. The refuse evetually leads to the sediment pond. The remaining timbers in the crib wall showed no signs of major instability, but some of the timbers appear weak. Gullies one to two feet deep were noted throughout the pile and smaller rills were noted throughout the entire pile. Revegetation The upper mine bench is dominated by coal fines so very little vegetation was noted on site. The upper portion of the mine site consists of mainly cheatgrass, shrub clumps, intermediate wheat grass, Canadian thistle and other unknown weeds. The lower portion has less coal fines, but a lot of mine debris. The vegetation consists of a higher proportion of established vegetation including intermediate wheatgrass, timothy, yellow sweet clover and some shrubs.