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S cowNC"C Seneca Coal Company <br />February 27, 2009 <br />'1-45® <br />Mr. Daniel Mathews cp <br />Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety <br />101 South 3rd, Suite 301 <br />Grand Junction, CO 81501 ???' Gcamat?°?' <br />(970) 242-5025 01J M U%1ng and SaI&I <br />-RE: _ Seneca II Mine_(Permit C-80-005)-. <br />Phase II Bond Release Application SI,3 <br />Response to Adequacy Review - 2nd Round <br />Mr. Mathews, <br />Seneca Coal Company (SCC) has reviewed your letter dated January 2, 2009 regarding apparent deficiencies in the <br />information and data provided in the Phase II Bond Release Application (SL-3) originally submitted in May 2008. <br />SCC has developed/formulated responses to the items forwarded in your letter as follows: <br />1. Rule 3.03.1(2)(6) and Division bond release guidelines require that, for Phase II bond release (of up to 85% of the applicable bond <br />amount), achievement of the approved success standard for vegetation cover, pursuant to Rule 4.15.8, must be demonstrated <br />Further, the demonstration it to be based on statistically valid data collected during a single year of the liability period Rule <br />4.15.8(3)(a) states that, for vegetative cover, "the revegetated area shall be considered acceptable if statistically adequate sampling <br />and testing pursuant to 4.15.11 demonstrate that the revegetated area is not less than 90 percent of the reference area cover.... <br />The revegetation success demonstration data tables and narrative provided in the SIr3 application were from the Seneca 112006 <br />Annual Revegetation Report, prepared by ESCO Associates Inc. (ESCO). The ESCO report (referenced in the SIr3 <br />application) it very thorough, detailed, and well presented, and contains substantial documentation and explanation that was not <br />presented in the SL-3 application. We have reviewed the ESCO report in conjunction with our SL-3 review, and have identified <br />three significant deficiencies re <br />garding statistically adequate demonstration of rrvegetation cover success within Bond Release Block 4 <br />(BRB4), described below. The deficiencies relate to information presented on Map 4 (2006 Phase 2 Bond Release Sample <br />Locations) of the ESCO report The map delineates the Bond Release Block 4 (BRB4) area subject to sampling (eg. sample <br />universe), as well as the location of the twenty four (24), BRB4 cover sample transects. <br />Rule 4.15.11(2)(a) defines the applicable formula for demonstration of statistical sample size adequacy, and Rule 4.15.11(2)(b) <br />defines the applicable t-test formula for demonstration of success. The three sign (cant deficiencies we have identified with respect to <br />BRB4 vegetation cover demonstration are: <br />a) Six of the cover sample transects (l6, T1 1, T1 4, TI 7, T1 9 and T22) appear to be located within the 125.8 acre East <br />Wadge area, which was excluded from the SL 1 Phase I Bond Release approval and was pro <br />perly not included in the SIr3 <br />Phase II release request area (compare ESCO Map 4 to SI?3 Map Exhibits A and B). Data from the cover transects <br />located within the bond release exclusion area should not have been included in the SI.r3 data set, for success demonstration <br />purposes <br />Seneca Coal Company • P.O. Box 670 • Hayden, Colorado 81639 <br />Telephone (970) 276-5219 • FAX (970) 276-5222