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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. Backfilling and Grading Wadge Pit backfilling is ahead of schedule and Wolf Creek backfilling is contemporaneous. No new slides or slumps (or re-initiation of slumping in previous slide repair areas) were observed on final graded areas. Permanent drainage channel construction has been completed in the "A" and "B" pit areas. A couple rip-rapped drainage segments have also been completed on the east side of the regraded ridgeline, in the Pond 015 watershed. Rough grading has been essentially completed in the Pond 17 watershed Wadge Pit area, but the permanent channels in this area have not yet been constructed. Additional grading had been completed in this area since the previous inspection, in order to establish the design drainage profile in preparation for channel construction. Some additional grading work appears to be necessary along the lower segment of the spoils to establish the profile. The final segment of the primary channel in this location will extend from the lower end of the graded spoils, across a short segment of undisturbed slope down to Hubberson Gulch, above Pond 017. Work on this final segment will not be initiated until PR-5 is approved. Based on PR-5 proposed postmine topography, final graded slopes in several areas will exceed 30%, including Wadge highwall reduction slopes along the upper pit segment in the Pond 016 watershed, final highwall reduction slopes in the Pond 017 watershed, and spoil and pit endwall slopes along the divide between the Pond 016 and Pond 017 watersheds. Several abney level measurements were taken in rough graded pit endwall areas along the °~-~ divide, indicating slopes of 30% to 35%. Rough graded highwall slopes in the Pond 017 watershed were not measured, but appeared to be consistent with the PR-5 proposed grades, slightly exceeding 40%. Appropriate stability analyses demonstrating compliance with applicable requirements of Rule 4.14 will be required, for the steep slope reclaimed areas. Topsoil Topsoiling operations had resumed since the previous inspection, and additional topsoiling had been completed in various locations, including slopes adjacent to the recently constructed segment of the Ridgeline Access Road, and final graded areas in portions of the north segment Wadge Pit in the Pond 016 watershed. In this latter area, live topsoil stripped in advance of Wolf Creek pit operations had been directly replaced. Revegetation/Reclamation Success There is a dense infestation of the noxious weed black henbane in the vicinity of the lower stock pond in the "D" pit area, as described in previous inspections. The dense, primary infestation was successfully treated with herbicide, and the plants did not produce mature seed. However there are scattered "outlier" plants in various other locations within the