2008-12-19_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1996083

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Some surface blasting occurred during construction of the facilities. Details regarding the blasting plan are presented within Section 2.05 of the permit application. The Bowie No. 2 Mine is located in areas known to be subject to mass movement processes. Extensive design efforts and regulatory review were implemented prior to the approval of the Bowie No. 2 Mine and during the review of Permit Revision No. 3 and Permit Revision No. 7. The details regarding the geotechnical aspects of the mining and reclamation plan are presented within Volume VII of the permit application document. The Bowie No. 2 Mine will be reclaimed to the post-mining land uses of rangeland, wildlife habitat and industrial. The approval of Permit Revision No. 6 added cropland and pastureland to the post-mining land uses. All facilities areas and some roads will be reclaimed to reestablish the approximate original contour of the land. All portals, shafts and monitoring wells will be backfilled, in accordance with the applicable rules and with the reclamation details provided within the permit application. Some of the roads which existed prior to mining will be retained to serve the postmining land use. Topsoil will be redistributed on all disturbed areas. The soils will be tested for nutrient deficiencies, and fertilizers will be applied as needed. Revegetation will be implemented using the seed mixes approved. Four permanent seed mixes are approved. One mix will be applied to areas which were identified as Meadow prior to mining, and another seed mix will be applied to the areas identified as Juniper Woodland and Mixed Shrub communities prior to mining. These two seed mixes, designated as seed mix no. 2 and seed mix no. 3, were revised in Permit Renewal No. 1 to replace several aggressive introduced species with native species. Mulch will be applied at an approximate rate of 4000 pounds per acre. The USDA-FS provided its own reclamation seed mixes for disturbed areas on USFS lands. One seed mix is for the mountain shrub community and the other is for the aspen/spruce/fir community. The Division had suggested the addition of three forbs into the seed mixes. However, the USDA-FS declined the suggestion. BRL has accepted the USDA-FS reclamation seed mixes, with the knowledge that the reclamation success standards will still apply. Approval of Permit Revision No. 6 added two new seed mixes into the reclamation requirements. One seed mix is for reclamation of the hayland areas and the other is for reclamation of the pasture areas. The review of the permit renewal application revealed that the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) had not been consulted on the woody plant stem density for reclaimed areas at the Bowie No. 2 Mine. BRL sent a letter to the CDOW, dated March 18, 2002, requested their consultation and concurrence on the matter. Because this matter would take some time to resolve, Stipulation No. 14 was added to the approval for Permit Renewal No. 1 that required that BRL provide verification of concurrence from the CDOW for the proposed plan. In Technical Revision No. 46, CDOW approved the operator's plan to use shrub clumps instead of a woody plant density standard. Therefore Stipulation No. 14 was complied with. Hydrologic and subsidence monitoring will occur throughout the operational and reclamation phases of the Bowie No. 2 Mine project. While deleterious hydrologic or subsidence-related impacts are not anticipated, the Bowie No. 2 Mine permit application contains mitigation plans to be implemented if negative impacts are detected. Permit Revision No. 10 contained several important submittals that detailed the subsidence, seismic and hydrologic monitoring requirements. These reports and monitoring requirements were updated so that they apply to the revised mine plan proposed in PR-11. They are as follows: Permit application text in Section 2.05.6(6) of Volume I, pages 2.05-99 through 2.05-125, was revised to explain the subsidence and seismic monitoring programs. 19