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TAB 20 <br />• BACKFILLING AND GRADING <br />Backfilling and Grading Procedures <br />Rough grading will be performed with bulldozers, scrapers, maintainers and, occasionally the dragline. <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 <br />process of grading begins with bulldozers building roadways into the ungraded spoil. Once sufficient <br />access into the spoil is provided, dozers or scrapers move the spoil material in the direction and the <br />amounts required to achieve the desired land form. The movement of spoil material is generally <br />downslope, due to economic and safety considerations. Completion of rough backfilling and grading <br />will be attempted within 180 days following coal removal. Backfilled materials shall be placed to <br />minimize adverse effects on ground water, minimize off-site effects, and to support the approved post <br />mining land use. <br />SCC's experience has shown that grading two spoil simultaneously produces more desirable <br />• reclamation results than grading one spoiV at a time. This is because the creation of graded slopes is <br />primarily dependent upon the ability [o perform "area grading" versus grading one spoil row. Because <br />of many variables encountered in the overburden removal process, it Is very difficult to predict the <br />exact, final configuration of the spoil. Thus, the final planning for reclamation grading must be <br />performed after the spoil is created in order to grade the disturbed areas in a diverse manner such that <br />surface irregularities are created to minimize erosion, improve range and wildlife habitat, infiltration and <br />improve soil moisture holding characteristics for the revegetation process. After mining progresses <br />into the field, grading will generally be within two spoils. Creating an acceptable post mining landform <br />is the primary consideration that determines the number of spoil that may exist in the field. Once the <br />spoil piles are reduced [o the point that equipment can be safety operated across the slope of the <br />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 <br />5(h1:11v1, except in areas where pre-mining slopes were steeper than 5:1. Final highwalls will be <br />reduced to slopes flatter than 3:1 except in areas where the <br />• <br />