2009-04-01_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1980005 (2)

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I. PROCEDURES AND SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW PROCESS Overview and Operational History Seneca Coal Company LLC (SCC) applied for a Phase II bond release at the Seneca II Mine. The application requested Phase II release for 1,793.5 acres of reclaimed land within the mine permit boundary, under the provisions of the Colorado Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act. The mine area is located in Routt County, Colorado, on lands included within: T5N, R87W; All of Sections 1, 2 and 12; Portions of Sections 3, 11 and 13 T6N, R87W; Portions of Sections 27, 34, 35 and 36 T5N, R86W; Portions of Sections 6 and 7. The Seneca II Mine is located in northwest Colorado, approximately nine miles southeast of Hayden in Routt County. The Seneca II Mine lies 7 miles east of the Seneca II-W Mine, Permit No. C-82- 057, and 4 miles east of the Yoast Mine, Permit No. C-94-082. The mining area can be found on the Milner Quadrangle 7.5 Minute Series Map. Elevations at the mine site range from 6,600 feet to 8,100 feet above mean sea level. Mining started in 1972 and coal removal continued through August, 1999. During active mining operations, the coal from the Seneca II Mine was hauled over county and private roadways by a private hauler to the Hayden Station Power Plant operated by Public Service of Colorado. The Seneca II Mine is a surface operation that used area strip techniques and auger mining. Area strip mining techniques used at the mine include vegetation removal, topsoil stripping, fragmentation and removal of overburden, fragmentation and removal of coal, spoils grading, topsoil replacement, and revegetation. Surface disturbance at the site included surface mining pits, reclaimed auger mining areas, and mine- related structures and facilities. Mining occurred in two pits, the Wadge and Wolf Creek. The Wadge pit mined the Wadge coal seam to depths of 100 feet. The Wolf Creek pit recovered the Wolf Creek seam to depths of 140 feet. Three auger areas were mined at the Seneca II Mine. These areas are designated as Area B, D, and E and are shown on Exhibit 12-IA of the permit application package (PAP). The final area to be mined was the Wadge East Area pit. Coal removal was completed at this location in August, 1999. The 650 dragline was moved from the Seneca II Mine to the Yoast Mine in the fall of 1996. Prior to the cessation of mining production rates were approximately 600,000 tons per year. Mining began at Seneca II prior to implementation of Colorado's permanent regulatory program, and as a result, affected lands within the permit area fall within three regulatory categories, "pre-law", "interim program", and "permanent program". Bond release criteria differ among the three categories. Pre-law areas were mined prior to passage of the Surface Coal Mining Reclamation Act and the Federal interim rules which took effect on May 5, 1978. Permit 75-54 was issued for these lands under the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act of 1976. Lands where coal was removed 3