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TAB 20 <br />BACKFILLING AND GRADING <br />Backfillinc and Grading Procedures <br />Rough gratling will be performed with bulldozers, screpers, maintainers and, occasionally the dregline. <br />Bulldozers and scrapers are used for final grading. Seneca does not plan to remove any necessary <br />reclamation equipment from the area of operation until final reclamation is completed. Typically, the process <br />of grading begins wdh bulldozers building roadways into the ungraded spoil. Once sufficient access into the <br />spoil is provided, dozers or scrapers move the spoil material in the direction and the amounts required to <br />achieve the desired land form. The movement of spoil material is generally downslope, due to ecorromic <br />and safety considerations. Completion of rough backfilling and grading will occur within 180 days following <br />final coal removal unless a variance has been approved. Backfilled materials shall be placed to <br />minimize adverse effects on ground water, minimize off-site effects, and to support the approved post mining <br />land use. <br />SCC's experience has shown that grading at least two spoils simultaneously produces more desirable <br />reclamation results than grading one spoil at a time. This is because the creation of graded slopes is <br />primarily dependent upon the ability to perform "area grading" versus grading one spoil row. Because of <br />many variables encountered in the overburden removal process, it is very difficult to predict the exact, final <br />configuration of the spoil. Thus, the final planning for recamation grading must be performed after the spoil <br />is created in order to grade the disturbed areas in a diverse manner such that surface iregularities are <br />created to minimize erosion, improve range and wildlife habitat, infiltration and improve soil moisture holding <br />characteristics for the revegetation process. After mining progresses into a mining area and normal <br />production operations are established, grading will generally be within two spoils. Creating an <br />acceptable post mining landform is the primary consideration that determines the number of spoils that may <br />exist in the field. Once the spoil piles are reduced fo the point that equipment can be safety operated across <br />the slope of the rough graded area, final grading will be done on the contour. <br />Final interior spoil grading will produce a diverse topography with slopes generally no steeper than 5(h):1(v), <br />except in areas where pre-mining slopes were steeper than 5:1. Final highwalls will be reduced to <br />slopes 3H:1V or flatter, In some cases backfili material is placed on topsoil stripped, in-situ ground <br />• upslope of the final highwall. Slopes may exceed 3H:1V in these isolated areas upslope of the final <br />highwall where the natural slope is originally steeper than 3H:1V. In all cases, backfilled slopes in <br />disturbed areas will be placed to achieve a minimum stafic safety factor of 1.3. <br />TR-25 1 Revised 10/04 <br />