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county and privately owned coal. The Division approved SL-04 November 18, 2003. The approval <br />released reclamation liability only. No money was returned to the operator. <br />TMI submitted an application for a Phase I bond release, SL-O5, for 823.9 acres on October 27, 2003. <br />The land requested for bond release was privately owned by TMI and by the State of Colorado. The coal <br />mined had been federally and state owned. The post-mining land use for all 823.9 acres was rangeland. <br />SL-05 was approved June 11, 2004. The operator did not request a reduction in the bond amount. The <br />approval released reclamation liability only. No money was retumed to the operator. <br />TMI applied for a Phase II bond release, SL-06, on October 12, 2004, TMI requested Phase II liability <br />release on 830.8 acres of reclaimed rangeland. The reclaimed areas were surface mined and include <br />portions of Ashmore, Derringer, Flintlock, and Hawken Pits. The surface ownership was state and <br />private and the coal mined was federal or state. The acreage requested for Phase II bond release was <br />reduced from 830.8 acres to 819.5 acres. During the bond release review process, TMI submitted MR- <br />200 in response to the Division's adequacy concerns. MR-200 was approved on May 31, 2005. No <br />monetary amount was requested for release, but TMI requested that liability associated with Phase II <br />release criteria be released as a result of SL-06. SL-06 was approved on September 5, 2005. <br />The Division received TMI's SL-07 application for a Phase III bond release on October 25, 2005. The <br />application was deemed complete on November 1, 2005. The Division conducted a bond release <br />inspection on November 9, 2005. The site inspection was conducted in accordance with Rule 3.03.2(2). <br />Lands included in the bond release were private and state owned. Coal mined on the azea included in <br />the bond release application was federal, state and privately owned. Persons present during the bond <br />release inspection included: Mr. Forrest Luke and Mr. Graham Roberts representing TMI, and Janet <br />Binns of the Division. The Office of Surface Mining, Denver Field Division was notified of the <br />inspection but OSM personnel declined to attend the inspection. The Little Snake Resource Area office <br />of the Bureau of Land Management was notified of the inspection but BLM personnel declined to attend <br />the inspection. Mr. Mazk Davis of the State Land Board was notified of the inspection, but did not <br />attend the inspection. On Mazch 9, 2006, the Division received an electronic memo (e-mail) from the <br />Office of Surface Mining, Western Region Center, which concurred with the operator's analysis of the <br />vegetation data. The memo from the Office of Surface Mining confirmed that the vegetation re- <br />established on the reclaimed bond release block achieved reclamation success. <br />II. CRITERIA AND SCHEDULE FOR BOND RELEASE <br />PHASEI <br />Rule 3.03.1(2)(a) states, "Up to sixty percent of the applicable bond amount shall be released when the <br />permitee successfully completes backfilling, regrading, and drainage control in accordance with the <br />approved reclamation plan." All lands requested in the current Phase III bond release application, SL- <br />07, have received Phase I bond release during SL-Ol or SL-OS approval. <br />Trapper Mine, SL-07 Findings a Mav 16, 2006 <br />