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w <br />1. Background <br />Blue Ribbon is the operator of the Blue Ribbon underground <br />coal mine (the "Mine") located in Delta County, Colorado under <br />permanent program permit C-81-047 issued on December 9, 1982. <br />Reclamation is underway at the Mine, and most of the <br />backfilling and grading required by the approved reclamation <br />plan was completed by the fall of 1986. Blue Ribbon filed a <br />partial bond release request reflecting this work on <br />November 10, 1986, and the Division inspected the site on <br />December 10, 1986. <br />The Allens filed objections to the partial release on <br />January 9, 1987, alleging that Blue Ribbon had prematurely <br />reclaimed the mine in breach of the Purchase Agreement dated <br />December 31, 1975, to which Blue Ribbon and the Allens are <br />parties. The Allens also requested an informal conference <br />which was held in Paonia, Colorado on February 12, 1987, with <br />the Allens and representatives of Blue Ribbon attending. The <br />Allens' attorney filed a further eaplanation of their <br />objections on March 11, 1987. The Division reviewed all of the <br />Allens' objections and notified them by letter dated March 17, <br />1987, that it considered all of their objections to be <br />irrelevant to the release issue. <br />On March 20, 1987, the Division issued its proposed <br />decision to release $30,000 of Blue Ribbon's $110,000 bond. It <br />found, based on its inspection, that the backfilling and <br />grading of the mine portal, bench and access road, with minor <br />- 2 - <br />