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<br />• <br />I. PROCEDURES AND SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW PROCESS <br />Colorado Yampa Coal Company has applied for final bond release under the Colorado <br />Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act following reclamation of Mine No. 2. The mine is <br />located in Routt County, approximately 23 miles southwest of Steamboat Springs. The mine <br />azea is located in portions of Sections 19, 20, and 30, Township 5 North, Range 86 West, and <br />portions of Sections 24, 25, and 36, Township 5 North, Range 87 West, of the 6th P.M. <br />Mine No. 2 is permitted within the Colorado Yampa Coal Company complex of mines under <br />the Eckman Pazk, Mine 1 and Mine No. 2 permit, Division of Minerals and Geology permit <br />number C-81-071. Mining was completed at NSine No. 2 in 1980. A Phase I bond release for <br />the backfilling and grading of the Mine No. 2 portion of the permit was approved on <br />September 1, 1987. The partial Phase I approval reduced the bond amount for the Eckman <br />Pazk, Mine 1, Mine No. 2 complex from $10,585,393.00 to $8,880,000.00. Subsequent <br />phased bond releases in other portions of the Eckman Pazk mine complex (not the Mine No. 2 <br />azea) have reduced the reclamation liability for the entire complex to $4,199,557.00. On <br />April 4, 1997, Colorado Yampa Coal Company submitted a replacement bond, drawn off <br />Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., in the amount of $5,939,550.00. <br />Colorado Yampa Coal Company submitted an application for a Phase II and Phase III bond <br />release of the Mine No. 2 azea (SL-02), on December 15, 1992. Problems with non-random <br />distribution of vegetative transect data, failure to adequately provide sedimentology <br />demonstration for all azeas requested for release, and failure to permit remaining structures as <br />permanent (pond M), resulted in the Division's denial of the bond release application. <br />An application for Phase II and III bond release, (SL-06) for the Mine No. 2 area, was <br />received by the Division on September 5, 1997. The application was found incomplete on <br />September 12, 1997, due to omissions in the public notice. The public notice was republished <br />with the noted corrections, and the application was deemed complete on September 15, 1997. <br />Colorado Yampa Coal Company published notice of the bond release application in the <br />Steamboat Pilot once weekly for four consecutive weeks, beginning July 23, 1997, and <br />republished beginning September 24, 1997. Colorado Yampa Coal Company also notified <br />land owners within and adjacent to the mine permit azea, and other interested parties of the <br />application for bond release, as required by Rule 3.03.2(1). Colorado Yampa Coal Company <br />is requesting release of $95,480.00. <br />Colorado Yampa Coal Company is requesting Phase II and II[ bond release on 477.4 acres. <br />Two blocks form the Logical Management Unit (LMU). The East Block consists of 145.6 <br />acres and is also referenced throughout the permit as Area 6. The West block consists of <br />331.8 acres. <br />