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IN REPLY REFER TO: United States Department of the Interior ~~ OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING Reclamation and Enforcement P.O. Box 46667' Denver, Colorado 80201-6667 EC'E~VEp January 27, 2005 AN 3 z 2005 ~ivislon of Minerals G G~IaJY Chandra Rosenthal Rocky Mountain Director Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility P.O. Box 280396 Lakewood, CO 80228 Deaz Ms. Rosenthal: This is in response to your January 7, 2005, letter (received via a-mail) concerning two bond release decisions by the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (DMG). The Colorado Departrnent of Natural Resources is the State regulatory authority responsible for surface coal mining and reclamation operations in Colorado, and DMG is the division responsible for administrating regulatory program. The Departrnent of the Interior approved the Colorado regulatory program effective December 15, 1980, and beginning on that date-the Department of Natural Resources and DMG received primacy for the regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation operations onnon-Federal and non-Indian lands in Colorado. The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is responsible for implementing the provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. OSM's Western Region and the Denver Field Division (DFD) are responsible for oversight of the administration of the Colorado State program. The Colorado State program includes provisions for performance bond release as noted in your letter, and found at: "Rule 3 Performance Bond Requirements, and Section 3.03 Release of Performance Bonds". OSM is involved in applications for performance bond release in our oversight capacity. DFD participated in the field review of each of the bond release applications you note in your letter, Snowcap Coal Co., Bond release application SL-02, and Bowie Resources Ltd., Bowie No. 1 Mine, Bond release application SI.r02. We believe your concerns with respect to the bond release actions are captured on page three of your letter with the summary statement: "We object only to part of Phase I bond being released on the areas of these mines where backfilling, regrading, and drainage control had not been completed." At the time of the bond releases through its oversight activities, DFD did have concern with release of bond for structural demolition. However; under OSM Directive REG-8, oversight is not to be process driven. Instead, oversight is to focus on the on-the- ground/end result success of the State program in achieving the purposes of the Act. As described below the State fully documented the monies released for reclamation work l~~~M~~~