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PHASE II <br />Rule 3.03.1(2)(b) states, "Up to eighty-five percent of the applicable bond amount shall be released upon <br />the establishment of vegetation which supports the approved postmining land use and which meets the <br />approved success standazd for cover...based on statistically valid data collected during a single year of <br />the liability period". In regard to Phase II bond release, Rule 3.03.2(3)(b) also states, " No more than <br />sixty (60) percent of the bond shall be released so long as the lands to which the release would be <br />applicable aze contributing suspended solids to streamflow or runoffoutside the permit azea in excess of <br />pre-mining levels as determined by baseline data or in excess of levels determined on adjacent non- <br />mined azeas". <br />For cropland, productivity is the standard used for vegetation success evaluation, For the Trapper <br />Mine, the reclaimed cropland productivity must equal or exceed 90% of the productivity of the <br />cropland reference area. The cropland areas were seeded with perennial hay crop seed mixes 82-92- <br />PHC and 94-PHC as approved in the permit. The species included in the seed mixes consist of <br />alfalfa, mountain brome and pubescent wheatgrass. The Division approved Phase II bond release for <br />both cropland bond release blocks during SL-03. <br />TMI provided an acceptable suspended solids demonstration during SL-O1, SL-02, and SL-06 to <br />demonstrate that the reclaimed azeas did not contribute suspended solids to streamflow or runoff <br />outside the permit area in excess ofpre-mining levels. Drainages and sedimentation ponds located <br />within and down slope of the bond release blocks were not included in the SL-06 bond release <br />application. Portions of Coyote, No Name, Johnson and East Pyeatt drainages and associated <br />sediment ponds remain in the permitted azea and are not a part of the SL-07 Phase III bond release. <br />Far East Buzzard pond remains in place and is not included in the SL-07 Phase III bond release. West <br />Buzzard Pond No. 3 has been permitted to remain as a permanent impoundment. <br />PHASE III <br />3.02.1(2)(c) The remaining portion of the bond amount shall be released when the permittee has <br />successfully completed all surface coal mining reclamation operations in accordance with this <br />approved reclamation plan, and the final inspection and procedures of 3.03.2 have been satisfied. <br />This shall not be before the expiration of the period specified for revegetation responsibility in 3.02.3. <br />3.03.1(3)(c) Where a silt dam is to be retained as a permanent impoundment as described in 4.05.6 <br />or 4.05.9, more than sixty (60) percent of the bond may be released only so long as provisions for <br />sound future maintenance by the permittee or the landowner have been made with the Division. <br />3.03.1(4) No bond shall be fully released until all reclamation requirements of these Rules and <br />the Act are fully met, and in no case shall the total bond amount applicable to a permit area be less <br />than $10,000, in accordance with 3.02.2(3), until bond for the entire permit azea is fully released. No <br />acreage shall be released from the permit area until all surface coal mining and reclamation operations <br />on that acreage have been completed in accordance with the approved reclamation plan, <br />TMI provided documentation in the application of the seed mixes planted for each parcel. Seed <br />mixes used were in accordance with the approved mixes. All lands requested in the current Phase III <br />Trapper Mine, SL-07 Findings 5 May 16, 2006 <br />