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Land and Coal Ownershia of the Bond Release Area <br />The Edna Mine was a surface coal mine that utilized azea strip methods. The land and coal in the <br />bond release area is privately owned. Mining disturbance in the bond release area consisted of a <br />road, conveyors, a tipple, and other support facilities. Coal was not extracted in the bond release <br />azea. <br />Lands included in the Bond Release Request <br />The Edna Mine permit area covers approximately 3,428.5 acres. In the current bond release <br />application (SL-8), P & M is requesting Phases I, II and III (final) bond release for approximately <br />13.3 acres that was disturbed by mining operations. The bond release area is limited to the <br />former location of a conveyor belt and adjacent road (the Goat Trail), and the former <br />grizzly/tipple facility azea. All azeas in the permit area that are outside this bond release area will <br />either remain secured by bond, or have previously received final bond release. <br />Dollar Amount of Bond Release Request <br />The Division currently holds a reclamation bond in the amount of $3,839,884. The remaining <br />reclamation liability at the Edna Mine is $3,839,884. P & M is requesting release of $1,002,729 of <br />the bond. This amount is itemized in the bond release submittal. The cumulative total of previous <br />bond releases at the Edna Mine is $3,331,833 excluding releases for reclamation of pre-SMCRA <br />(Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act) lands. <br />II. SUMMARY OF THE BOND RELEASE PROCESS <br />Reclamation History of Bond Release Area <br />Mining operations. Coal mining within the Edna Mine permit area began more than 50 yeazs <br />ago. Permit C-1980-001 was issued on November 16, 1981. Coal was mined in the Williams <br />Fork Formation by blasting the overburden, then removing the disaggregated overburden with a <br />dragline. Trucks hauled coal from the pit to the conveyor at the top of the eastern ridge in the <br />permit area. From the top of the ridge, the conveyor carried coal down the eastern slope of the <br />ridge to a grizzly/tipple facility (the lower facilities) next to Oak Creek. The coal was loaded into <br />rail cars at the tipple facility and then transported to customers. The conveyor system in the bond <br />release area was constructed in 1951; the Goat Trail road was constructed in 1953. Mining <br />ceased at the Edna Mine in December 1995. <br />Reclamation plan. Topsoil from the land disturbance in the conveyor corridor portion of the <br />bond release area was not salvaged. Topsoil had been left in place beneath and next to the <br />conveyor corridor when the conveyor was constructed, prior to the enactment of the Surface <br />Mining Reclamation and Control Act. The original approval of Permit C-1980-001 allowed the <br />topsoil to remain in place. The reclamation plan for the conveyor corridor is described on permit <br />page 3.6-8. The plan calls for: removal of conveyor belt structures, removal of accumulated coal <br />fines, reshaping the top ofthe fill azea along the uppermost conveyor, placing water bazs along <br />2 <br />