By exception, the Applicant is in compliance with this rule. No reclaimed area of the Permit is
<br />cropland.
<br />1S. Rule 4.20.3(1) Surface Owner Protection (Subsidence)
<br />Each person who conducts underground mining activities shall adopt all measures of the subsidence
<br />control plan approved by the Division to reduce the likelihood of subsidence, [o prevent subsidence
<br />from causing material damage or reducing the value or reasonably foreseeable use of surface lands,
<br />and to mitigate the effects of any such damage or reduction which may occur.
<br />The Division may release the bond or reclamation liability for surface areas overlying underground
<br />workings only after all mining in the area is completed and the major subsidence effects, if any, have
<br />been manifested, Division policy is that the liability period is a minimum of three years after mining
<br />for areas of extraction. (CMLRD Policy Memorandum, "Release of Liability of Areas Overlying
<br />Underground Coal Mine Workings", April 13, 1987.)
<br />Structures and features within the original mine plan area included State Highway 13, Curtis Creek,
<br />Jensen Ranch buildings, reservoirs, ponds and dams, a natural gas pipeline, power lines,
<br />archaeological sites, and structures owned by (the then) Northern Coal Company (Permit, Page S-1).
<br />These structures and features are located on Exhibit S-1 of the Permit (Subsidence Survey Map,
<br />3/25/80). Coordination had been completed with the Colorado State Department of Highways (Permit,
<br />Page S-17a, Highway Department letter, October 28, 1980), Western Slope Gas Company (Public
<br />Service Company of Colorado, Permit, Page S-19, Western letter of April 14, 1980), and White River
<br />Electric Association, Inc (Permit, Page S-21, White River Electric Association letter of April 3, 1980).
<br />No secondary mining was to be performed beneath archaeological sites and therefore should not
<br />undergo any subsidence (Permit, Page 5-20, Paragraph 5.7). The Applicant satisfied concerns for
<br />mining under all the structures and features (Permit, Pages S-16 through 5-26). Structures and features
<br />actually undermined were State Highway 13, Curtis Creek, the electric power lines, and facilities
<br />owned by Enron Coal Company (Documents 25 and 26, both hand delivered to the Division on January
<br />20, 1998, as depicting the maximum extent of underground mining). The Permit approved only
<br />advance room and pillar mining under the Highway and Curtis Creek (and due to close proximity, the
<br />power lines). No secondary mining (retreat room and pillar or longwall) under these resources, or
<br />within an angle of draw that may have an impact upon the highway, was permitted (Permit, Page S-
<br />16). Although not undermined, advance room and pillar mining (a gateway) approached to within
<br />approximately 100 feet (horizontal distance) of the natural gas pipeline, at a depth of approximately
<br />300 feet of overburden (Document 25, posted as 12/31/80)(five gateways, approximately 20 feet wide,
<br />on 80- to 90-foot centers, approached the natural gas pipeline, and terminated approximately 100, 130,
<br />250, 300, and 300 feet from the pipeline).
<br />Only records of subsidence monitoring at the Rienau ~/ 2 Mine were found in the Permit files.
<br />"Subsidence monitoring showed no evidence of surface subsidence due to past or on-going operations."
<br />was reported in an Office of Area Mining Supervisor, CRMA, memorandum of November 14, 1979
<br />{Document 27). A conclusion within a Curtis Creek subsidence report (copies of subsidence reports
<br />28 20 January 1998
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