Laserfiche WebLink
STATE OF COLORADO <br />DIVISION OF RECLAMATION, MINING AND SAFETY <br />Department of Natural Resources <br />1313 Sherman St., Room 215 <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone: (303) 866-3567 <br />FAX: (303) 832-8106 <br />August 27, 2009 <br />Roy Karo <br />Seneca Coal Company, LLC <br />37796 Routt County Road 53 <br />P.O. Box 670 <br />Hayden, CO 81639 <br />Re: Seneca II-W Mine (Permit No. C-1982-057) <br />Bond Release Application No. 2 (SL-2) <br />Dear Mr. Karo: <br />COLORADO <br />D I V IS I ON OF <br />RECLAMATION <br />MINING <br />SAFETY <br />Bill Ritter, Jr. <br />Governor <br />Harris D. Sherman <br />Executive Director <br />Ronald W. Cattany <br />Division Director <br />Natural Resource Trustee <br />We have received your application, proof of publication, and copies of written notices concerning bond <br />release at the Seneca I1-W Mine. Our initial review indicates that all preliminary items required by Rule <br />3.03.2(1) regarding bond release applications and contents, have been submitted. Thus, your application <br />has been deemed complete for the purposes of filing on August 27, 2009. All review and comment <br />periods as provided in the Act and the Regulations promulgated thereunder initiate from this date of <br />filing. <br />Since you are a permittee of a federal mine, if you have not yet done so, please submit a copy of your <br />bond release application to: Jim Fulton, U.S. Office of Surface Mining, P.O. Box 46667, Denver, CO <br />80201-6667. <br />The staff is currently reviewing your bond release application to determine whether the items you have <br />submitted are adequate in terms of meeting the requirements of the Act and Regulations. Weather <br />permitting, we will conduct a bond release inspection of the site during the week of October 13, 2009. <br />You will be contacted by the Division to notify you of the scheduled inspection, which you may elect to <br />attend. The Division will issue a proposed decision on the release application within 60 days of <br />completion of the inspectior/evaluation for SL-2. <br />Recent DRMS inspection reports have documented extensive erosion that has necessitated large <br />scale permanent channel and gully repairs in the "South Extension" of the permit area, <br />particularly within the watersheds that drain to the Pond 016/016A series, and along Channel PM- <br />4D on the east side of the reclaimed Neck Pit ridgeline, which drains to Pond 015. It is the <br />Division's understanding that the erosion resulted primarily from a single high intensity rainfall <br />event in early spring 2009, that occurred when soils were still saturated from snowmelt. It is our <br />further understanding that the SL-2 application had been completed prior to the storm event. <br />Office of <br />Mined Land Reclamation <br />Denver • Grand Junction • Durango <br />Office of <br />Active and Inactive Mines