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r <br />AANOLD & POATEA <br />Mr. Michael Long <br />December 9, 1992 <br />Page 4 <br />reclamation bond. Compliance Agreement 78. There- <br />after, the Division threatened to commence forfeiture of <br />the Bond, unless Harrison Western undertook certain <br />maintenance work at the Bonded Area. On April 22, 1992, <br />Harrison Western and the Division entered into the <br />Compliance Agreement to attempt to define Harrison <br />Western's responsibilities at the Bonded Area and clar- <br />ify Harrison Western's obligations under the .Bond. Once <br />again, Harrison Western did not waive its right to con- <br />test the validity of the Bond. <br />The Compliance Agreement requires Harrison <br />Western to undertake certain maintenance work, including <br />stabilizing rills and gullies on sideslopes, interseed- <br />ing areas that require revegetation, dredging the pond <br />below the Bonded Area so that it is adequately sized to <br />contain the West Pit runoff for a 10-year, 24-hour <br />precipitation event, and reestablishing a rock-check <br />dam. Id. at 77 20-22. Harrison Western is also <br />required to excavate a trench below the Bonded Area to <br />divert water from the "Unnamed Creek" as it approaches <br />the pond so that water is diverted from the Creek to the <br />Magpie Diversion. Id. at 1 23. Harrison Western spe- <br />cifically reserved its right to contest this requirement <br />if it proved problematic, inasmuch as the requirement is <br />designed to address runoff from some 300 acres of land <br />located outside the Bonded Area. Id. <br />Since executing the Compliance Agreement, <br />Harrison Western has spent weeks of time and many thou- <br />sands of dollars seeking to complete the maintenance <br />work outlined above. Harrison Western filled, regraded, <br />and otherwise stabilized the rills and gullies, dredged <br />the pond, reestablished the rock-check dam, and <br />installed a 150-foot diversion ditch and culvert as <br />directed by the Division. Upon information and belief, <br />all of this work was initially approved by Cathy Begaj <br />of the Division. <br />After Harrison Western completed this work, a <br />series of unusually heavy summer rain storms and a flash <br />flood washed tons of sediment from the Unnamed Creek <br />across the land below the Bonded Area, filling the pond. <br />This water also cut through the berm which protected the <br />Bonded Area and formed part of the diversion ditch. In <br />response, Harrison Western attempted to dredge and en- <br />large the pond, to the extent that soil conditions <br />