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"~ `- <br />Phase [I Bond Release <br />Section 3.03.1(2)(b) states, "Up to eighty-five percent of the applicable bond amount shall be <br />released upon the establishmentof vegetation which supports the approved postmining land use arcl <br />which meets the approved success standard for cover... based on statistically valid data collected <br />during a single year of the liability period". In regard to Phase II bond release, Section <br />3.03. l(3)(b) also states, " No more than sixty (60) percent of the bond shall be released so long as <br />the lands to which the release would be applicable are contributing suspended solids to streamflow <br />or runoff outside the permit area in excess of premining levels as determinedby baseline data or in <br />excess of levels determined on adjacent norunined areas". <br />With regard to Phase II bond release, the approved reclamation plan requiredseedingsnd mulching <br />of all dismrbed areas. No topsoil had been salvaged prior to disturbance, since mining initiated <br />prior to the enactment of SMCRA. Bear Coal Company did, however, acquire topsoil from the new <br />State Highway 133 project, and was able to distribute 6" of topsoil over the regraded area. <br />During operation of the Bear No. 1 and No. 2 Mines, three sedimentation ponds treated runoff from <br />disturbed areas. When the loadout area of the operation was reconstructed under the new State <br />Highway 133, Pond 1 was destroyed. Another portion of the loadout was taken over by Mountain <br />Coal Company, which constructed its own pond in place of Pond No. 2. Pond No. 3 treated runoff <br />from the remaining Bear No. 1 and 2 Mine disturbance areas. In January 1993, Bear Coal <br />Company submitted Technical Revision No. 10, which included vegetation monitoring data and a <br />demonstration that sediment control structures were no longer required for runoff from the <br />reclaimed mine areas. The Division approved removal of Pond No. 3 on April 9, 1993. <br />Phase III Bond Release <br />Section 3.03.1(2)(c) states that the final portion of performance bond, "shall be released when the <br />permittee has successfully completed all surface coal mining reclamation operations in accordance <br />with this approved reclamation plan, and the final inspection procedures of 3.03.2 have been <br />satisfied. This shall not be before the expiration of the period specified for revegetation <br />responsibility in 3.02.3." Section 3.03.1(4) states, " No bond shall be fully released until all <br />reclamation requirements of these Rules and the Act are fully met...". The same rule goes on to <br />state, "No acreage shall be released from the permit area until all surface coal mining and <br />reclamation operations on that acreage have been completed in accordance with the approved <br />reclamation plan." <br />III. OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS <br />Phase I Bond Release <br />Facilities and structures were removed from the mine areas and loadout in 1982. The Bear No. 1 <br />and 2 portal areas were backfilled and graded, available topsoil was distributed, andthe areas were <br />seeded in 1982 and 1983. Sedimentation Pond No. 3 was removed and the area regraded and <br />seeded in 1993. <br />Division observations indicate the disturbed areas were regraded to approximate original contour. <br />Bear No. 1 and 2 Mines Borid Release Page 5 <br />