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information, bond release application SL-10 for the Edna mine is a 13.3-acre Phase I/II/III bond <br />release application, and bond release application SL-l I for the Edna mine is a 1,197.6-acre Phase II/Ill <br />bond release application. <br />As part of our review of an application for bond release at a permitted coal mine, we evaluate the <br />success of reclamation with regard to the requirements of a mine's DRMS permit, the requirements of <br />our state coal law, and the requirements of our Board's coal mining regulations. Such an evaluation <br />includes reviewing the revegetation success data that may be submitted, reviewing (if applicable) the <br />methodologies utilized in collecting and analyzing that revegetation success data, and conducting at <br />least one on-the-ground bond release inspection of the area(s) requested for bond release. <br />Bond release inspections of the areas subject to bond release applications SL-10 and SL-I 1 for the <br />Edna coal mine were conducted on July 20, 2009, with the SL-10 bond release inspection occurring <br />first. Attending the SL-10 bond release inspection were you and Sarah Hagenbach of the Steamboat <br />Springs District Office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service; Janet Binns and me of the <br />Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety; Steve Leach of Chevron Mining Inc; Troy Summers of <br />WWC Engineering (a Chevron consultant); Christine Belka of the US Department of Interior's Office <br />of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement; landowners Tom Maneotis, Leslie Maneotis, Rob <br />Dick, and Kathryn Dick; and landowner representative Scott Hayden. Present during the SL-11 bond <br />release inspection were Janet Binns and me, Steve Leach, Troy Summers, Christine Belka, Tom <br />Maneotis, Leslie Maneotis, and Scott Hayden. Following these inspections, an inspection report was <br />authored by Division staff. A copy of this report is provided for your benefit. <br />With regard to your comments concerning noxious weeds, Chevron has a DRMS-approved weed <br />management plan included within its DRMS permit for the Edna coal mine. This plan has been <br />developed in consideration of the Colorado Noxious Weed Act (35-5.5-101 et seq C.R.S 2003) and its <br />associated rules (8 CCR 1206-2), applicable sections of our state coal mining law and our Board's coal <br />mining regulations, and our Division's weed management guideline entitled "Guideline for the <br />Management of Noxious Weeds on Coal Mine Permit Areas" (70 FR 14999, 3/25/05). Chevron is <br />required to manage weeds at the Edna coal mine in accordance with the DRMS-approved weed <br />management plan on areas disturbed by surface coal mining activities that lie within the boundaries of <br />the DRMS permit boundary until those areas achieve Phase III bond release. Areas at the Edna coal <br />mine that have achieved final approval of a prior Phase III bond release request and that may still lie <br />within the DRMS permit boundary for the Edna mine are no longer under our jurisdiction. Chevron is <br />therefore no longer required to manage weeds in accordance with the DRMS-approved Edna mine <br />weed management plan in previously-approved Phase III bond-released areas. Chevron and/or other <br />owners of these Phase III bond-released areas may nevertheless still need to comply with applicable <br />State and County weed laws and regulations that may apply to these areas. <br />During the July 20, 2009 inspection of the lower portion of the Tipple Area (bond release application <br />SL-10), annual non-noxious weeds and curly cup gumweed (a non-noxious species) were indentified <br />along portions of the Lower Tipple Road. A sparse presence of houndstongue (a noxious species) was <br />also identified in the SL-10 area. In the SL-11 bond release areas, several patches of Canada thistle (a <br />noxious species), each measuring perhaps 15 ft X 40 ft, were observed along the North Road as the <br />inspection proceeded southward from the permit boundary gate. Several other patches of Canada <br />thistle were encountered as the inspection proceeded westward along Moffat Down Drain 4. This