2009-10-16_REVISION - M1977036 (8)

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Page 6 of 8 TETRA TECH Mr. Jared Ebert October 16, 2009 6.4.12 EXHIBIT L - Reclamation Costs 20. It appears that the majority of the South Central Pit and East Pit will be backfilled so that only 16 and 11 acres of open water will remain. How many acres (if any) are already backfilled in the South Central Pit and East Pit? How deep will material be backfilled into the South Central and East Pit? We do not have an answer to this question yet; therefore, we will respond to this comment as soon as possible. 21. How much material is on site currently to backfill the South Central and East Pit excavations? We do not have an answer to this question yet; therefore, we will respond to this comment as soon as possible. 22. It states in the Exhibit L narrative that 114 acres of the affected land will remain as open water. However based on the reclamation plan map, 5 open water ponds will contain 140 acres. Please explain this discrepancy? The reason for the discrepancy is that the 26 acre North Central Pit has already been reclaimed as a pond and so it was left out of the calculation. However, because you have requested topographic information for this pond to confirm that it was reclaimed with the required slopes and have agreed to delay requiring this information until prior to release of the site, we will add this area into the updated version of Exhibit L. An updated version of Exhibit L will be forwarded to you later. 23. Please provide evidence that pit slopes around the North Central Pit are reclaimed to the required slopes. That is 4:1 to the water line and 3:1 below that. As indicated on the attached email from you to David Jordan, this information will be provided prior to release of the site. 24. What are the current conditions of the pit slopes around the west pit, south central pit and the east pit in terms of horizontal to vertical slope ratio? This information is currently unavailable. We are acquiring it and will follow-up to provide this information to you as soon as possible. 25. Based on the reclamation plan map, the majority of the South Central Pit and the East Pit will be backfilled with material and then revegetated with upland grasses. These upland areas will need to be topsoiled. Please show the location of the current topsoil stockpiles that will be used to topsoil these areas on the mining plan map. Some of the topsoil will come from the existing berm along 35`h Avenue and the rest will likely need to be brought in from off-site. However, we will more carefully look at this and respond with more certainty as soon as possible. 26. Since 140 Acres of open groundwater will remain after the site is reclaimed, LaFarge must obtain a court approved augmentation plan from the Office of the State Engineer. The Division is required to set the financial warranty at a level which reflects the actual current cost of fulfilling the conditions of the Reclamation Plan per Rule 4.2.1(1). Therefore, without an augmentation plan in place the financial warranty must be set at an amount which accounts for the exposed groundwater. The Division has identified several options for determining the amount of the financial