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The Pittsburg & Midway Coal Mining Co. A Chevron Company 116lnvemess Dnve East, Suite 207, Englewood, CO 80112 • Phone 303 930 3600 RECEO~EC July lo, 2006 JUl 12 2006 Mr. Byron Walker Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology °iw810n orNiner~i$ z„ d c~aoay 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 aware, the Edna Mine is in the 10`h 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 aware of a problem which must be resolved before this yeaz's monitoring can occur. As background, the property owned by P&M to the north of the mining permit boundary containing the reference area for vegetation monitoring was sold earlier this yeaz to a private individual. This individual was,made aware of the location of the reference area and its' importance to the mining permit. P&M was assured the azea would not be disturbed until after final .bond release. Today I received a phone call from our consultants. One 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 cleaz if the realtor had been made aware of the reference azeas 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 comfort that the newly incorporated piece is, for all intents and purposed, equal in production and diversity as the shredded area. I will also be traveling to Steamboat in the next day or two to see things for myself. If someone from CDIVIG'xs in the area which could have some input into the resolution I would make myself availablerogthat p~rson s, sch~dule: ,Ir ~ r , Ste~e Leach Sr. Environmental Engr.