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Response to July 8. 1993 Civil Penalty Assessment In general, Colowyo believes that much of the analysis found in the Assessment reflects the result of misrepresentation of the facts from the Division, particularly such as those we have noted above regarding the June 1, 1993 DMG memo. The following comments address specific sections of the Penalty Assessment. B. Seriousness Frankly, the discussion regarding the estimate of topsoil "lost" is difficult to follow and is not tied to any specific reclamation requirements at the Colowyo mine. Apparently, part of the Division's calculation assumes that the entire volume of topsoil contained within the typical dozer cut is "lost". This is not the case as the topsoil is to be respread onto the toe of the adjacent stockpiles. In addition, as noted above, Colowyo removed approximately 10,000 bcy of topsoil in excess of expectations. what little topsoil was lost due to erosion was insignificant in terms of the entire volumes removed in Section 16 and will have no bearing on future reclamation. We respectfully request that the proposed penalty for Seriousness be changed to $0 for Insignificant. C. Fault As noted in the discussion above, in excess of 435,000 bcy of topsoil was removed in Section 16. Topsoil stockpiles were all graded and seeded. It is important to note that while topsoil removal was to have initiated in mid-May, due to delays in approval of PR-O1, topsoil stripping could not start in Section 16 until July 16, or two months late. During the 14 month approval process for PR-O1, all of the approval time frames were initially extended at DMG's request because of staffing problems. In effect, Colowyo had to complete 5 months of topsoil stripping in only 3 months. The construction of the dozer cuts was one of the last tasks to be completed. Unfortunately by late October the wet fall weather conditions kept the dozers from completing the dozer cuts after they were started. Colowyo did however complete the significant job of topsoil stripping, regrading and seeding in a shortened time frame. Had PR-O1 been approved in a timely manner these problems would not have occurred, the cutouts would have been routinely completed and the topsoil stockpiles would have received Colowyo's routine attention to detail to protect the topsoil resource. We respectfully request that the penalty for negligence be reduced to $250.