_INSPECTION - C1981028 ‎(26)‎

• Permit No: C1981028
• IBM Index Class Name: INSPECTION
• Doc Name: Inspection Report
• Inspection Date: 10/30/2008
• Email Name: JHB
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Below are comments on the inspection. The comments include discussion of observations made during the inspection. Comments also
describe any enforcement actions taken during the inspection and the facts or evidence supporting the enforcement action.
This was a complete inspection conducted by Janet Binns of CDRMS. Dan Kipp and Don MacDonald of Coors Energy
Company accompanied the inspection. Weld County Public Health and Environment representative was also present
conducting a quarterly county inspection as well. The mine no longer extracts coal,but the remaining surface pit(Pit B)is
permitted to dispose of flyash. CEC caps,regrades,topsoils and seeds the pit as the ash fill progresses. The mine site was
dry and warm. The area has not had a hard freeze yet and some of the grasses are still green.
H d�gic Balance:
Two sediment ponds remain on the mine site,sediment pond No.2 and the dugout pond. The dugout pond was dry while
Pond 2 was holding a pool of water just below the 1ft. level. Vegetation at both ponds was good.
Roads:Roads are in good shape in the active areas of the mine. CEC had recently graded the haul roads and cut the ditches
in preparation of winter.
Topsoil: Topsoil laydown on the active reclamation area south of Pit B(Area 31 P)has been completed. The elevation of the
replaced topsoil was slightly higher than the required 24"in the central portion of the parcel. CEC uses posts with a 24"
mark to aid the scraper in topsoil laydown depth. The excess topsoil was 2"to 6"above the 24"mark in a limited portion of
the parcel. All replaced topsoil in this parcel was 24"or more.
Support Facilities: 4 additional gas wells are flagged for future construction by a third party(PDC). Permitting for these 4
wells have not been initiated.
Backfill&Grading: &Waste Disposal: Ash placement,grading and cover continues in the B pit. Grading and cover of the
ash occurs soon after end dump of the ash material so airborne dust is minimized.
Revegetation: CEC conducted vegetation success sampling in September for submittal of a bond release application. Initial
results for parcels reclaimed in 1995 and 1997 indicates that CEC should be able to meet the reclamation success criteria.
CEC also sampled parcels reclaimed in 1985, 1986,and 1987. No results for those parcels were shown the inspector,
however CEC had not heard from the consultant that there were any problems. Early dry growing season,followed by a very
wet August resulted in the vegetation appearing stunted. Warm season grasses were visible with greater frequency than in
wetter years. Many of the grasses were still green and the area has not had a hard frost yet. Some ragweed was still observed
to be green. No noxious species were encountered during inspection.
Parcel 25 was showing some establishment of seeded perennial grasses. Indian rice grass was encountered with some
regularity. CEC has reseeded and interseeded this parcel and this last effort is beginning to show some encouraging results.
Parcel 25 is still visually dominated by annual forbs and grasses,but perennials are present within the area.
Parcel 30 is showing very good establishment of a diverse perennial community. Little bluestem,Indian ricegrass,
Switchgrass, Sideoats grama,Buffalograss and slender wheatgrass were a few of the species noted visually while walking
through this parcel.
Wildlife: A coyote was observed standing in parcel 26 during the inspection.
No maintenance items were identified with in the permit area.