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o7i P M COAL CO ~ 002 The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co. A (3uvron Company 116lnvemess Drive East, Suite 207, Englewood. CO 80112 • Phone 303 930 3fi00 RECHVED JUL 10 2006 Division of Minerals & Geology July 10, 2006 Mr. Byron Walker Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology 1313 Sherman St., Rm. 215 Denver, CO 80202 RE: P&M Coal, Edna Mine, Permit C-80-001, Vegetation Monitoring Deaz Mr. Walker, As you are awaze, the Edna Mine is in the l0a' yeaz of reclamation. The first year of vegetation monitoring for final bond release occurred last summer and the second is scheduled for either later this month or in early August, depending on ground conditions and the schedule of the consultants. I have been made awaze of a problem which must be resolved before this yeaz's monitoring can occur. As background, the property owned by P&M to the nozth of the mining permit boundary containing the reference area for vegetation monitoring was sold eazlier this yeaz to a private individual. This individual was made aware of the location of the reference azea and its''importance to the mining permit. P&M was assured the area would not be disturbed until after final _bond release. Today I received a phone call from our consultants. t?ne of their people had stopped.by Edna on their way to another job to check the field conditions for the sampling work. He discovered that the sage-snowberry reference azeas had been shredded. The exact extent of the shredding is not clear although the comment was `The flat azea was shredded, the slope is still intact.". Third hand information indicates the work was done by an overzealous realtor who was representing a potential buyer for that piece of property. It is not clear if the realtor had been made aware of the reference areas or if he had permission from the landowner to brush hog the ground. I will follow up with others who have more intimate knowledge of what occurred but the damage has been done. I, in conjunction with P&M's vegetation consultant, would like to meet with you and other appropriate staff personnel at your earliest convenience to discuss possible options for completion of the bond release vegetation monitoring. Ideally the area is not totally inundated and we can simply move the reference azea a little to maintain the total size have a level of cotnfort that the newly incorporated piece is, for all intents and purposed, equal in production and diversity as the shredded azea. I will also be traveling to Steamboat in the next day or two to see things for myself. If someone from CDMG is in the azea which could have some input into the resolution I would make myself available on that person's schedule. Ste a Leach Sr. Environmental Engr.