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I. PROCEDURES AND SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW PROCESS Coors Energy Company applied for a bond release of 53.9 acres under the Colorado Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act following reclamation of the Keenesburg Strip Mine. The mine is located in Weld County, in all or portions of Sections 2 and 11, T2N, R64W; and Sections 25 and 36, T3N, R64W; 6th Prime Meridian. The mine azea is located in: Township 3 North, Range 64 West Sections 25 and 36 Coors Energy Company has previously requested and been approved for two bond releases. Bond release SL-O1 was approved on August 11, 1998 for Phase I on 179 acres and Phase II on 111 acres. Bond release SL-Ol released $1,787,113.00 of the reclamation bond. A second bond release, SL-02, was approved August 31, 2005. SL-02 approved Phase I release on 51.76 acres. $146,955.00 was approved for release from the reclamation bond for the 10 parcels included in the request. This bond release application, SL-03, for Phase II bond release, was received by the Division on July 5, 2005. The application was deemed complete on September 27, 2005, after the Division received proof of publication of the applicant's public notice. Coors Energy Company published notice of the bond release application in The South Weld Sun once weekly for four consecutive weeks, beginning July 28, 2005. Coors Energy Company also notified landowners within and adjacent to the mine permit area, and other interested parties of the application for bond release, as required by Rule 3.03.2(1). The application requests release of $191,433.10 of the reclamation bond. No comments, written objections, or requests for an informal conference regazding the bond release application were received by the Division. The Division scheduled and conducted a bond release inspection on October 6, 2005. The site inspection was conducted in accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2). Persons at the bond release inspection included Mr. Don MacDonald and Mr. Danny Kipp, representing Coors Energy Company, Ms. Edith Savage, representing Savage and Savage Environmental, a consultant for the permitee, and Janet Binns of the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology. The surface ownership of the property included in the bond release area is privately owned by Coors Energy Company. The Division sent a letter to Savage and Savage Environmental identifying adequacy concerns on November 3, 2005. The Division requested that Coors Energy Company provide a demonstration to show that the reclaimed area bond release block contributes no more suspended solids to runoff or streamflow than pre-mining levels as required by Rule 3.03.1(3)(b). The Division also requested that a map showing a 0.5-acre portion of Pazce124 be removed from the bond release parcel. This 0.5-acre area was identified during the October 6, 2005 inspection as not having received topsoil replacement or having been seeded with the approved permanent seed mix. The operator determined that this 0.5-acre pazcel was not C-1981-028, SL-3 3 4/18/2006